Artist Statement
During Covid, I came to understand how much art provided comfort. My paintings not only portray my deep love for the natural world and my commitment to environmental conservation but also provide spiritual nourishment, portraying the atmosphere and beauty of a place.
I love painting on location or “plein air” using media, like pastels, which vividly portray colour and ambient light patterns which move me emotionally. On location as I respond to the sights and sounds of nature, I use media and mark making in a gestural, loose way to help to transport the viewer to my sensory memories of a place: the changing light of cloud patterns, rustling sounds of weaving fields of wildflowers and colourful fall trees. To help my colours sing, I employ complementary underpaintings, washes and coloured grounds. In the studio, I often enlarge these plein air studies in oil or acrylic to create landscapes with even more emotional impact and sense of place. There I explore techniques such as impasto to suggest environments rich with natural textures: the crunchy snow footprints, lapping waves and fallen leaves. My paintings are an exciting journey which blend my initial sensory experience on location with my exploration and imagination in the studio. Along the way, I aim to recreate the initial spiritual experience in nature and provide comfort and reassurance that beauty exists even in troubled times.