Artists have responded to man’s impact upon the natural world since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Nineteenth century landscape painters such as JMW Turner and Caspar David Friedrich observed the power of nature and our impulse to control it. An informal art movement continues to grow from increased awareness of environmental issues.
The vivid landscapes of William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy pervade my imagination as I work. Like them, I am interested in following characters through uneasy environments. Because good story telling relies as much on omission as inclusion, I maintain a degree of ambiguity that allows the viewer to interpret the painting according to her own background and desires. My narrative paintings reflect a concern with the changing landscape. I begin with a series of sketches, created from imagination, which frequently place characters lost or scavenging in unfamiliar terrain. Their environment is invented, more symbolic than representational. Working in series allows me to fully develop the relationships of the characters to each other and to their environment.
I am trained in the techniques (such as rendering form, perspective, and light) of the “old masters”, and am influenced by the darker aspects of Goya, Daumier, and Balthus. Oil paints, applied in multiple smooth layers from dark to light, offer deep, rich color. The palette is chosen to imply differences in time: earth tones refer to aged oil paintings and early photography, and are used to convey the past, while palettes of monochromatic or adjacent colors offer a sense of timelessness, dream, or memory. Full color is used to imply the present.
Through traveling, birdwatching, and study of the environment, I developed an interest in natural history (the collection and cataloguing of natural objects and organisms). I am particularly interested in the drawings and paintings of birds made by early explorers of the Amazon and the American frontier. Examining these works, created at a time when the natural world seemed indestructible, serves as a spiritual antidote to considering contemporary environmental challenges. Birds appear frequently in my work as symbols of optimism. They are usually invented, hybrids of birds that I have observed, seen in books, or drawn in natural history museums.
