statement
(Click on an image to view an enlargement.)
The landscape, from both a physical and psychological perspective, has always informed my work. Since 1968 I have lived in places increasingly defined by water: New Haven; New Orleans; and now on an island fifteen miles off the coast of Maine.
I am an observer of small moments, of a thousand skies and clouds, changing light, brilliant days and dark nights. I am interested in the way light and shadow, time and weather transform the landscape, and the power of wind, tides, and currents to transform the surface and movement of water and redefine the edges of the land.
I explore a site with quick sketches, written descriptions and measurements. I collect scraps of text, texture and color – inventory for collage – compositions of chance, color, scale, and form – offering new possibilities to describe a specific place and time.
Referring to the small studies, I work on series of larger paintings and drawings - compositions of direct observation, memory and invention. Using water based media – fluid acrylics, watercolors, and light-fast permanent inks – combined with pastels, oils and encaustic, I work to capture the luminous, rapidly changing light, billowing clouds, the convergence of water, land and sky, and the unsettling combination of beauty and fragility in the swift undercurrents and riptides of the landscape that surrounds me.
