Artist Statement

Working as a multidisciplinary artist I use the meditative act of writing poetry and composing music as a way to support and inspire the act of painting itself. Creating poetry is a free form way of finding the emotional base to tap into when beginning a canvas. These verses combined with thumbnail sketches within my journal become referential material to refer back to as I paint. Composing at the piano helps me continually find the rhythm and movement within a painting. It is all an integral part of the creative process.

I work primarily on canvas using oils but am equally drawn to the tactile quality of oil pastels. It is the gestural quality of making marks on paper that blurs the line between painting and drawing. I further investigate the three dimensional quality of surface, by making carvings on alder wood panels that are then stained with translucent glazes of oil. A consistent thread of uncovering symbolic meaning through the use of the figure and the movement of shadow, light and color, weaves between all three mediums of canvas, paper and wood in my work.

My personal exploration is to paint mysteries that surround us. Searching for clues towards this never ending navigation through the unknowable, this vast infinite universe. To find a deeper connection that translates into a universal language using symbols both figurative and from nature to evoke a liminal space in which to traverse. The hope is to create something compelling that transports the viewer in a soulful way towards revelation.

It is the use of symbolic references, natural elements and figures that creates a visual language upon which to enter and explore. The figures are allegorical vehicles that carry emotion, action, or movement through the composition. They are stripped of any identification of time, or place. They hold symbolic meaning outside their normal context, as if in a dream. It is within the layering of color, the building up of surfaces and the translucent glazes that an illusive quality of light is revealed. This creates a sense of movement and enhances the abstract nature of paint. Ultimately I want my work to be stirring, beautiful, haunting and alluring.

I am drawn to the sacred within everyday life, to linger in the unknown, the indescribable. To journey within, to sit in a visceral silence, which allows for a deeper spiritual connection. It is this struggle to find a balance between how we navigate through our daily life and that deeper yearning for something much greater than ourselves that is the intellectual structure underpinning my work.

It is this search for meaning within the context of this constantly changing world around us that continues to compel me to paint.