My focus is a contemporary portrayal of the landscape, using a layered monotype printmaking technique to explore the color, light, and form that characterize specific places and places in time. I work from memories, photographs, historical representations, and my own imagination. I believe landscapes tell complex stories to any who are patient enough to look and listen.
My layered process speaks to the passage of time. Edges and texture hint at the stratum underneath. Fragments of previously used colors migrate across the print, connecting the layers but also emphasizing a progression through the color palette. The plate edge is visible across the print suggesting the shutter action of a camera, photomontage, or impressions taken through time or space. There is a history that reveals itself in the details of the work, just as there would be in reading the natural environment.
I am drawn to landscapes that are seemingly unpopulated and unaffected by human intervention. On one hand my desire is to show the beauty and diversity of nature and to celebrate it as a gift to humanity. Beyond this straightforward appeal, the geology of the environment and the effects of erosion and weather all fascinate me. Really looking at the forms that make a place unique is important to me, as is asking the question, “What color is this, really?” In this sense my work is an ongoing study of color, light, and form.
On the other hand the viewpoint of my work is decidedly human and reminiscent of a fuzzy memory or an old photograph. Somebody was here. In fact someone has been here for millennia, migrating through, settling, leaving their mark, enjoying the bounty of the land, and probably also reveling in the beauty of the place and the moment. Appreciation of the natural world is part of human nature. We seek out the long views from mountaintops, the reflection and movement of water, the unexpected hues in canyons and meadows. It is something that unites us globally and also through time.