I make abstract paintings that are linked to my decades-long interest in the ephemeral, a concept often associated with flowers and nature. The perpetual spinning of the cycle of life and finding beauty in the temporary are major influences on me.
Driven by risk, I rely on my intuition and creative history to engage my surfaces with gestural improvisation as well as control. The paintings are not planned and include techniques of layering and revealing. The use of intervention or placing something where it doesn’t belong, has been the common foundation in my work for more than three decades.
I’m interested in making paintings that can’t be read in a single viewing but rather, keep giving and revealing themselves in repeated visits.
My stretched canvases begin on my studio floor with layers of washes, allowing the colors to spill and drip over the sides of the panels. Once dry, I engage their surfaces with oils and oil sticks. The process takes weeks to months to complete. During this journey, a painting can be painted over multiple times or scraped off before continuing. I often apply the paint directly with my hands and sometimes use the wet canvas to make a monoprint onto paper, which then can get further worked on.
My primary concern is infusing life into the paintings and to connect with and further understand our relationship with universal patterns in nature and our place in the world.
