Rhythm of Trees 2021 Gallery

Rhythm of Trees 2021 Gallery

Living in the western North Carolina mountains, I am surrounded by trees. On our property, I have developed an affinity bordering on a personal relationship with individual trees. I feel held and contained by them. In reading and viewing The Intelligent Life of Trees, I learned about the interconnectedness and relationship among trees that validated my intuitive experience living with them. I am honored to share their presence on planet earth. As an abstract painter, I have become fascinated with the rhythm of trees.

Abstract Landscape 2020-2021 Gallery

Abstract Landscape 2020-2021 Gallery

I am blessed to spend half my year in the natural beauty of the western North Carolina mountains. I have enjoyed playing with abstract landscapes that have a sense of place without specifying place. They are psychological landscapes with often a surreal element.

Rock and Bones 2020 Gallery

Rock and Bones 2020 Gallery

While much of my work is autobiographical, the Rock and Bones series became explicit. Following a recent major spine surgery in which the successful outcome depended on my body’s production of bone around the site, I became overtly fascinated in my work with rock and bone formations that acquire surreal forms.

Interconnected 2019 Gallery

Interconnected 2019 Gallery

As an intuitive painter, extreme magnification of cellular structures offers much inspiration reminiscent of outerspace imagery. All of the paintings in the series Interconnected began with a drawing - sometimes, a rediscovered watercolor or etching monoprint from my files, but usually a drawing from my sketchbook. Each were mounted on the panel and influenced the work as it progressed. In preliminary pieces I found myself making marks of repeating shapes. I looked at them and puzzled as they seemed so familiar. The word dendrite came to mind. In fact, they were much simpler cellular shapes, but in researching dendrites I was struck by their universality as nerve cells most frequently found in the brain, occurring in all animals. That universal occurrence made me reflect on the interconnectedness of all living creatures. There’s a play between connections and connective tissue - the inner and the outer. This reflection sustained me throughout the series. I became more intentional about cellular source material for my drawings. Some of the pieces stay with micro imagery such as suspended bubbles suggesting the space that surrounds individual molecules. Others expand to the macro focusing on the construction aspect of cells into forms. Of course, the alchemy of color, texture and line determined its evolution..

Narrative 2016-2018 Gallery

Narrative 2016-2018 Gallery

The Figure Narrative works are largely social commentary and part of my Compassion series. The Compassion Series began in response to the 2016 presidential campaign and its lack of compassion. Like most people, I was shocked by the adversarial black and white verbiage intentionally clashing different racial/ethnic and cultural segments of our American community in judgmental language. In words not unique to me, I found myself thinking: “Why can’t we all just get along?” I believe the narcissistic preoccupation with surface beauty driven by commercialism has left our culture vulnerable to this pejorative clash of “us” versus “them,” and so, I chose fashion illustrations to represent these narcissistic values. In utilizing lotuses as universal images of compassion and peace, I combined these two elements of lotus and fashion toward a hope of cultural healing.