Although most of my acrylic and oil paintings reflect a deep love of the environment, it is the colors, forms, and overall mark-making that call to me the most. As an intuitive painter, I respond to the paint itself more than rigidly adhering to any preconceived plan. Each of my paintings is an exploration.

My studio is filled with found objects and bits of nature that continually inspire me. I gather these objects as a form of “visual harvesting” that feeds my creative practice. I am also a constant reader of literature, nonfiction and poetry. These things also influence the direction my art takes.

Recently, much of my work has been formed by layering of color and pattern. I often select subtle and gentle color transitions and have found a particular joy in the addition of ethereal linework floating on a mysterious surface of color. These delicate elements are echoes of my first love—drawing in graphite. I find something meditative about the act of drawing, whether in detailed realistic works or more gestural ones, drawing plays a role in my practice.

There is an ebb and flow in my painting process. I enter the “zone” by rapidly applying subtle color variations of paint, often using analogous color palettes. I pour translucent washes, smear thicker layers of viscose paint, scrape lines into the surface, and dab and poke at the surface with rags and sometimes bare fingers. When I finally pause, I realize my hands are covered with colors, my palette is a mess, rags and paper towels litter the surfaces where opened tubes and jars of paint are scattered in chaos. This is when I need to sit with the work. To be with it, live with it, to listen to what it is saying.

Vignettes From my Workspace: