There are six  bodies of work in my Portfolio: Embracing Discovery (most recent work), Connections , Being In Nature, Chaos & Calm, In The Woods and Energy Force. Each body of work has a different raison d’etre; therefore there is a difference in the artist statements.

Embracing Discovery  In this body of work I discovered a  new way that allowed me to be open to the creative possibilities in my paintings.

With this body of work, I explored the concept of controlled randomness as I worked on these paintings. Controlled randomness is when randomness is part of a process but with constraints or parameters to guide its behavior, allowing for predictable outcomes or desired patterns within the randomness. In art, it means introducing elements of chance and unpredictability into the creative process, while maintaining some intention and vision.

Employing this process allowed me to introduce chance elements into my paintings, but in a manner that was still guided by my sense of composition.

In my art practice I usually hang my canvases on the studio walls to paint, instead I laid them flat between two sawhorses. Then I applied paint using a Chinese Baoding ball. Chinese meditation balls, or Baoding balls, date back to the Ming dynasty. Most Baoding balls consist of hollow spheres, containing a chime that rings when an inner ball strikes the outer sphere.

I moved the ball, covered in paint, around each canvas by tilting it back and forth across the canvas. The ball chimed as it traveled around the canvas making its marks. This added dimension of sound gave life to the mark making of the painting in progress.

Through the various twists and turns of the painted ball, I could visualize my compositions coming to life. To complete each painting, I used other tools to create more random mark making. With squeeze bottles, sprays and brushes, and borrowing from the action painters, I spontaneously dripped, splashed and threw paint onto the canvas. With some paintings, I preferred the image of a white canvas with one or two colors used in the mark making. In others, I layered the painting and the marks with a background color.

By controlling the randomness in these paintings, I was still able to direct the work while allowing for discovery. I feel it has created a sense of surprise and unpredictability to my paintings, and it has helped to inform my work with new and unexpected results.

Connections  We are all connected in some way – through networks of friends and family, electronic networks, connections to nature and the universe, business connections, and millions of connections throughout the human mind and body. My current body of work explores those connections – be it in the macrocosm or the microcosm. My mark-making is intuitive and filled with energy and action. The palette reflects our diversity in life – warm and cold, bright and bold, tranquil and muted, monochromatic and full of color. I feel there is an energy that emerges from the movement in this work. I think of it somewhat as a cosmic flow.

After applying layers and layers of oil paint, I carved into the painting with wood carving knives and other tools to achieve the final image.  Each painting has its own unique characteristics depending on the dryness of the paint when carved into it, the heaviness or lightness of the carving, the number of different colors applied, and the tools used.

Being In Nature During the pandemic, we’ve all spent a lot of time out in nature – taking walks and long hikes, and generally meeting in outside venues with others. Through each season, there are different things to appreciate while being in nature – the wind blowing through the grasses and trees in summer, the awakening of spring, the colors of fall, the starkness of winter. Through these abstract paintings, I have tried to capture my feelings and impressions of these times.

My process with these paintings is the same as the process used for Connections.

Chaos & Calm The years 2020, 2021 and into 2022 have been an extraordinary time of chaos in our country, our lives and our world. We have had to endure a pandemic and a toxic political environment that has divided our country. I have tried to visually record what I felt throughout this time.  Many days in 2020 and 2021, were chaotic, but sometimes I was able to tap into some much-needed calmness, thus the name Chaos & Calm.

In this body of work, layers of color reflect my changing mood in this series of paintings, with kinetic, spontaneous mark-making recording what is happening that day. Each painting is titled and dated for the day the marks were added to the background color of the painting.

In The Woods I am attracted to the stark lines and the texture of the trees in winter. There is a visceral feeling I experience with the leafless tree branches and I tried to communicate that in my wood assemblages. These are all found pieces. I work with them until I find a relationship that works and has meaning for me.

Energy Force  These non-objective abstracts reflect feelings inside of me. While I worked on these paintings I had no preconceived imagery. It was all created intuitively. I am intrigued by the energy in the universe. Scientists say energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. I think about where all of the energy goes when people pass out of this world — how does it change from one form to another and what does that life energy go through? This body of work expresses channeling my feelings and thoughts about those questions into my work.

My Painting Process.  I work with oil on canvas, using palette knives, scrapers and any tools that give me the texture and surface I want. For the most part, I build layers of paint until the painting develops a rich history and texture.  I try to abandon intention and embrace discovery, allowing the process to reveal what is there. That is when the painting becomes what it wants to be.

I think of all of my paintings and wood assemblages as peaceful and otherworldly with a sense of mystery. I want the viewer of my art to feel like they can walk through this work and have a never-ending journey.