Portfolio of Works

If you have not been to Lake Tahoe, you may find it difficult to imagine the rocks and water as I paint them.  Lake Tahoe is a masterpiece of nature, formed 5-10 million years ago by geologic faults, volcanic activity and glaciers.  The spectacular blue of Tahoe comes from the thin, clear, mountain air that allows the lake's pure, crystalline water to reflect the blue sky above.  The water truly is clear, and the lake's blue tones range from transparent through aqua to deep royal.

I create compositions inspired by the massive granite boulders that are stacked and balanced around the lake's edge.  Hours of kayaking along the shore with sketchbook and pencil have led to a series of 'Above And Below' the surface paintings.  This is representational art with a stylized, impressionistic, contemporary edge.  These paintings are meant to focus your attention on the power and permanent beauty of Tahoe's boulders.

Nature is my muse.  The subject matter and composition of my paintings come from my personal experiences in nature.  Each painting begins with a walk or hike in the woods.  I see tremendous poetry, beauty, strength, power and permanence in nature.  I also see a more fragile, less permanent side to nature.  Through my paintings I wish to convey a sense of these traits through the use of two simple elements:  Sticks and Stones.  These inanimate objects are presented with tremendous movement and stark, stylized realism, but they are emphatically not photographic.  In fact, many of the canvases are created using a palette of jewel tones rather than the natural colors. 

It is human nature to give precursory attention to our surroundings.  Once a person looks at their surroundings they believe they have seen what is there and do not bother to look again.  It is my desire to encourage people to be more aware of the environment that surrounds them.  Therefore, with the Sticks and Stones series, I paint the power and permanence of nature, represented by rocks; the more fragile, less permanent side of nature represented by sticks,  combining these two elements in an unnatural composition, which is visually poetic,  to peak the interest of the viewer, to encourage the viewer to pause, look, and ponder.  Because there is not a straightforward interpretation offered, the viewer must draw his or her own conclusions.  

Inspired by views from the family farm, I created a collection of paintings to represent special places on the land as well as crops, tilled earth and open spaces. This is a collection of great personal involvement as this land was family land, a place where I lived, where I experienced farm life, the passage of time, life and death, all while surrounded by the beauty of the land and unobstructed views to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

With development of the city moving towards the farm and with the development of the University of California Merced north of the farm, it is apparent this farm will eventually disappear. This body of work was created to chronicle the land as it is in 2005. 

Exploring fresh angles of seeing what is on the land instead of painting traditional landscapes led to a contemporary series with each work focused on one particular view or subject. Photographs applied  to the canvas with the repetition of an element from the photo in combination with abstract, forces the viewer to recognize not only the place but the stimulus and inspiration for the painting. 

There are seventeen paintings in the series. 

The focus with my Desert Plant series is cactus and succulent plants which are varied and unique.  They grow to different sizes, shapes and colors which influence my presentation of the subject. They can be plump and covered with spines or flat, thin and spineless.  Some cacti have leaves, some thorns, some flowers.  All are individual, nature's living sculptures.  The intensity of light bouncing off the plants and the deep shadows created by their folds and creases influences my sketches and the final painting.  Generally I take great artistic license with the composition of these paintings, enlarging the flowers to over size proportions, rounding and stylizing the plants to create a dramatic presentation.

The desire to honor the tribal women who lived in the areas where I reside, along with my interest in basket making has led to this series of Portraits.  The women I paint lived from the late 1800's into the 1900's and wove baskets which were used in daily life.   Their craft was slow and meticulous, based on mother to daughter knowledge.  Because it is the women I strive to honor, the baskets become secondary in the composition and do not compare with the precise, intricate weave these women accomplished.  Design elements from the actual baskets enter the composition as motif on head scarves and background.  The women themselves become the focus of the painting.   Using formal photographic portraits taken in the early 1900's as inspiration, I present these women in a stylized form with symbolism and a contemporary edge.

Anything but traditional, my florals are big, bold, and colorful.  Filled with exuberance and outlandish size, the composition contains a stylization of the original flower often presented in combination with other related blooms.  As with all my work this is a contemporary expressionism presentation.  

We live with fruits and vegetables daily, in the market and in our kitchens.  I first started painting these colorful edibles after a visit to a farmers' market where they were stacked and piled in bins and on tables.  The shapes and colors were luscious and inviting, asking to be arranged into small still life groupings, asking to become paintings.  Not only do I hunt farmers' markets for beautiful produce, but I spend time in vegetable gardens and fruit orchards looking for just the right subject.