Artist Statement

I live down the road from the water. This simple statement informs all that I do as a painter. In all seasons I look. The paintings are recollections of elemental things filtered through memory: the quality of light where rock meets shore; the changing sky, marsh and grass; some angle of land meeting water, altered only by the moving tides.

The freshness of this experience merges with memory as I work in my studio. Putting images together, taking them apart, I allow the images to become resolved with paint. Memory, time and space are part of my vision. The paintings work on two levels. Light and water can be seen as symbols of the spiritual realm, the inner workings of nature. On the physical plane, the viewer is reminded of his or her connection to the natural world and one’s critical relationship with water.

Through the visual vocabulary of paint I consider formal organization, color, energy and mark making. Mark making in paint is my vehicle for this relationship with nature. The paintings are tracks and traces of my experience.

I read a quote from Edward Hopper that seems to fit: “Art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.”