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I work primarily with a tar ground. I choose this dark and textural surface because it reminds me of the depth of the unconscious mind.
At the start of a piece I prefer to work without a specific concept. The murky grounds are evocative and subtly direct the painting.
The tar ground is a space onto which I can project whatever resides just beneath the surface of consciousness.
My process evolves by identifying shapes and forms suggested in the dark ground,
I use oil paint, tar, galkyd medium, cold wax and encaustic to build multiple layers of shape, form, line and eventually rendering more specific imagery.
I work in series, and I find specific objects recur, and I mine them for meaning.
Recurring images will transform or disappear altogether as I work with them over a period of months, sometimes years...
My painting process leads me more than I lead it, in terms of form and in terms of content.
While I am working: a title, sometimes a word, phrase, or several paragraphs occur to me.
I usually include these in the composition. I may allow them to remain legible or I may eventually obscure them as I proceed with the piece.
When words come into the work I know the painting is saying ''something,” and will lead to a strong visual work.
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My work is informed by studying philosophy- especially eastern philosophy, psychology, the new physics, nature, and the work of other painters.
I am a big fan of Annie Dillard, Alan Watts, Joseph Campbell, Albert Einstein, Diebenkorn, Picasso, Van Gogh, Rauschenberg, and Antonio Tapies.
I am after a sense of being in the world unattached to its material constraints.
My interest is in discovering the processes we all go through to make our lives ''mean'' something.
I love paint and the physical act of mark making.
I love discovering materials and techniques that will deliver the subject of the piece into a cohesive and expressive form.
ENCAUSTIC PAINTINGS
The introduction of wax into my work over the past 10 years has enabled me to achieve a more faithful use of materials.
The subjects that most interest me are not always on the surface of the conscious mind.
The beauty of the translucent beeswax brings me closer to understanding that memory and thought are often veiled, incomplete and mysterious,
This lovely material has also led me to realize that moments of great clarity are sparsely interspersed in our experiential life, and also quite fleeting.
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