A5 | About - Artist's Statement

Artist's Statement

The role of art in my life is best captured in a statement made by Sir Herbert Read: "Art is an escape from chaos!"

Through painting, I reflect upon that which I find interesting and towards which I am capable of intense feelings and profound contemplation. I find drawing and painting provide me with an opportunity to reflect on issues of concern to me – from a tumultuous past to a hoped for calmer present. I become totally absorbed in another world and the sense of time disappears.

The Act of Painting

The act of painting provides me with a sense of place from which I see beyond the realities of the surface and go seeking for that which I love in nature and capture it. The process is one of ever learning to see anew and understanding through this precious gift of sight an expanded range of images presented by nature; a special and particular vision making itself known through my eyes in which both the seen and the unseen are recombined in a representative whole.

For me the act of painting provides an opportunity to study how ordinary things are transformed by light shining through them; and, to reflect on the relative value of things and knowing that relative value I can do anything. I can build upon them – I can set aside those that I deem important at that moment and select those that intrigue me. In nature the most vital elements and activities endure only for a moment – it is the gesture of that moment that recalls the memory of the vitality that I set out to capture.

Monet's Gardens

I am deeply drawn to gardens and the indescribable beauty through the seasons – my own and places I have been privileged to visit. A major influence in my recent work is the trip we took to Monet’s gardens in Giverny in 2001. I spent a blessed day painting in the water gardens – it was a Monday in June when the gardens are closed to visitors and artists are invited in to paint.

I found a spot on the pond and spent all day Monday capturing the play of light on the trees, the water, and the water garden. It was a bit of a sad day – Monet’s favorite willow had fallen into the pond and the gardeners were busy removing it. We had just seen the tree on Sunday and it was such a surprise to find it "gone." A lovely woman from the Monet Foundation came around to visit the artists and she explained to me the significance. I am currently working on a series based on my paintings that day.

Fish As A Theme

Another recurrent image is the fish: fish as a symbol of creation; and fish as a wonderful creature. I spent many wonderful hours with my Dad fishing in my youth – I tied flies and made my own rod. I work with restoration of fisheries in my professional life.

Drawing

Drawing is an essential element – line, gesture, mass, space, and the relationships between the light and the dark provide the framework for color. I begin each painting by drawing the major elements of the composition using pencil or crayon and then proceeding to my brushes.

The Power of Strokes

I regard my paintings as an inevitable consequence of growth – outposts marking a progression in development that records over time my development by degrees. Often they are not ends unto themselves, but indicators of a course taken and progress made.

I revel in the power of strokes – the slippery character of the selected medium – the texture of the surface upon which I place my mark. The landscape, garden, and each flower present an ever-changing medium for ideas. I greet nature with a mind open to impressions ever conscious of change in light and texture – and I meet the challenge by recording the beauty witnessed. I find nature "as is" a very wonderful romance.

Subjects

I explore color, form, and line concentrate on three discrete, yet related subjects:

Landscape, garden, flowers – particularly as light is absorbed and reflected
Collage – use of texture and images to create a new whole
Pattern, motif – often as presented in flat woven rugs and textiles of the near and middle east

Influences

Influences on the physical and intellectual aspects of the process of making Art as I have experienced include:

Monet – light and color and an understanding of the relationships and tensions established between surfaces that absorb light and those that reflect light – and a wonderful day painting in his gardens at Giverney
Bonnard – color and a gentle reflection on gardens, people, and animals
Cezanne – realization that in addition to pure vision, there is a strong need to "realize the sensations." Composition – to see although it (the subject) may disappear
Delacroix – his journal has provided many hours of peaceful contemplation and has oft times provided the "aha" moment
Matisse – flat pattern and color – the importance of major motif in a complex composition
Klee – playful composition
DeKooning, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler – form, color, gesture. I have just finished reading a biography on DeKooning and again visited prints of his work to enjoy again the vitality he brought to art.
Rauschenberg – composition and a true sense of fun. I have often created collages using rubbings and pasting and know that Rauschenberg influenced some of what I create.
Rothko – color relationships

Recording Impressions

For as long as I can remember, I have recorded my impressions of the world as I see it with line, color, sometimes words, but always color. Certain forms have left indelible markings in my minds eye – some I have captured, some I have left to others. I tend to connect events, people, observations and just plain gut feelings together in line and color. Often I develop a series of motifs that become my own personal shorthand of recollections from the seen world.

I cannot remember a day in my life, even the worst ones, when color and line and motif failed to occur in my thought process. I know musicians who constantly have a tune, or a structure that may become a tune, and they have to rat-a-tat-tat or thump or hum it out. My thought process is similar, but I can paint it in my mind not making a sound. I wish at times that I could record the ideas as a camera might – but then something happens and it is gone.

Art Everyday

I believe that Art is of the everyday and must be enjoyed everyday. I react strongly (some say radically) to an atmosphere or setting that I believe is devoid of any resemblance of Art. I’m not talking about "beauty" – I am talking about integrity.

I work in every media that I can access and often use a "jumble" in creating my work. I find that each media provides me with yet another way to put on paper or canvas an expression/impression of my visual experiences.

Liberation

Just contemplating the act of painting provides me with a sense of liberation – a release. I cannot emphasize enough the role that that ability plays in my own sanity. Even when stuck in a dull and boring meeting, I can contemplate a work in my minds eye – my own or another’s and there is a sense of relief that knows no bounds.

As I stated earlier, "Art is an escape from chaos!" (Herbert Read).