Artist’s Statement

Although I was trained as a figurative painter, my paintings have become increasingly abstract, especially the landscapes and seascapes, which I characterize as near abstractions of distant places. They represent a journey into imagination-one that explores the way memories and associations color a sense of place. When we search our memories for certain views, what we see is their gradual unfolding and their cumulative effects on us-their places in our own histories. My work plumbs that experience. The triptychs, in particular, examine the way painting intensifies recollection, fusing then with now, and merging here with there. Because the intensity of the color, the fluidity of the medium, and the texture of the ground all play essential roles in my images, I combine gouache, ink and watercolor on heavy handmade cotton papers. And by Interspersing collage elements in acrylic paintings on panels I am emphasizing the transformative nature of my work.  Each layer of colors and shapes embodies decisions and discoveries made successively over time.