I always feel at peace when I am surrounded by the natural landscape. My spirit lifts and I feel a sense of rightness. Nature is my meditation. As I look back over the course of my art-making career I am struck by this common thread throughout my work, light and landscape. In fact my first show was entitled Lightscape. The leaves, seeds, and grasses I collect on my daily communes with the environment are small landscapes in themselves. In strong light I study them to lend them the proper drama their forms deserve. By representing them in this way I hope to evoke a similar emotional and physical space that I feel in my daily scenic meditations. The act of drawing and painting these forms has a similar effect on my psyche. I can spend hours painting a form, carefully observing it and come out refreshed and energized from the experience. The materials I use are small experiments about the relationship of surface to image. “What surface can most enhance the essence of my image?” I ask. The wire paper pieces are very suitable for natural forms. Their character and quality is unrefined and organic. The metal chalkboardesque pieces have a different transitory quality. Chalk being a somewhat fugitive medium speaks to the ephemeral quality of plant forms. Through these observations I hope to encourage others to contemplate the natural world and appreciate its beauty.

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