Creative Process

I explore nature and abstraction, often playing with sweeping brushstrokes, layered textures, and collage elements that create depth and complexity in the compositions. I take liberties in experimenting and manipulating the medium to produce unexpected effects, whether through torn paper, thick acrylic application, or the blending of soft, dreamlike forms with bold, contrasting elements.

Being out in nature inspires me to paint plein air. When the weather is beautiful, I love to get out of the studio and into the greater studio at large – outside the confines of walls. I am in awe of the natural world around me. At times, I feel almost giddy at the thought of being out there and painting. Whenever I hike, I find places on the trail that I know will make a fun, good painting. Sometimes, I'll go to those spots. Other times, I let the land guide me.

For my abstract, non-objective work, I start with two or three colors that come to mind as I look at the blank page or canvas before me. I paint from intuitive urges. My intuition takes me by the hand and leads me step by step through the process.

Many times I see, sense, or feel a shape or image on the blank substrate and use it as the starting point. I don't collect ideas or have a reference file. I paint from the inner well of creativity inside me. It's infinite in expression.  The materials and colors are where the fun is for me. The consistency in my work is color. I love bold, saturated colors. I lean toward warm colors of yellow, red, orange, and green. Blue sometimes comes in as a complement to those colors. Each painting receives its unique color palette. I have no formula for painting with color, what I paint, or the expression of what I paint. I am the constant in the work. It changes over time as I change.

For smaller work, I love working in multiples, using the same color palette. Moving from piece to piece, I make intuitive marks. Each painting is unique, but they work together as a whole or a set.

Using different techniques of collaging, pouring, splashing, and working with brushes, my fingers, cardboard, and other objects, I venture into the unknown. The spontaneity is freeing. 

At some point, it's time to make a painting out of it. Then the contemplative and art-world aspects enter the process. It often confronts me with problems to solve in making it into a cohesive whole with a good composition and good painting. A back-and-forth dialogue with the painting helps to flesh out what it's about. I know a piece is successful, or complete, when the painting has nothing else to say to me. In other words, it feels at peace and needs no more from me.