Statement

In the last several years I have been painting large scale, non-traditional, realistic still life in oil on canvas. In this work I have been interested in evoking the is-ness of things, the simplicity of things as they are in their particularity. I have been drawn to details, to roundness and volume, to aliveness, luminosity, stillness and clarity. In these paintings, the objects have expanded beyond the edges of the canvas. This up-closeness creates a sense of immediacy, intimacy and participation, a sense of being here, in the moment, without reservation.

Moving closer, in particular to the onion, I discovered another world of image and composition and design. A crack in the skin, or the lines of veins, or a sudden emerging of color below the skin begin to suggest different layers of meaning. To the viewer it becomes less clear what it is that one is seeing and invites a different kind of looking. It takes one beyond the familiar, beyond the limits of our ordinary way of knowing things and into more imagination. An interplay begins to happen between the microcosm and the macrocosm -- as I move into smaller and smaller sections, the images expand out into greater and greater spaces.

I then explored a new direction while continuing to be interested in space, luminosity and aliveness. I worked on canvases where I created a raised, rough white surface which surrounds an embedded iridescent shape. One might associate these shapes to rivers, or pathways, stems, or bones, all of which are vessels of movement, life force or vital energy.

Over the last few years I have been painting magnolia blossoms and gingko leaves, a new expression of the unfolding of light.

A new ongoing series of paintings represents a dramatic shift from my earlier work. As the series title Threshold suggests, this work emerges out of profound changes in my life, releasing expansive and unrestrained new energy, colors and depth. The threshold crossed has moved my paintings into an exploration of the interiority of aliveness, an exploration of the life force itself, the vital energy that infuses all things.

Over the winter of 2020, another group of painting emerged and might be seen as images of the phrase "in the world but not of it." Here are our dwellings with windows and doors full of light. Here we are, as souls with eyes like windows, full of light. Lights welcoming us home.

I have discovered that the titles of these paintings make a poem.

Waking up,
I see you.
Come along.
Stop here for a moment.
Come find me.
Moving through the night,
Places to rest,
Breath.
Almost home.

In the last year I have returned to old favorites: apples, onions, flowers. Additionally I've painted a few seascapes for the first time.