Artist Statement
My early years influenced my visual perception of life. Until I was four, I didn’t know there were leaves at the tops of trees, couldn’t recognize my parents ten feet away or see a landscape as anything but a blur.
With my first pair of glasses suddenly the world was near and FAR. Distance intrigued me. I incorporate it in most of my art. Growing up on the Canadian Prairies there were many great painting opportunities. The flat wheat fields stretched into infinity and the Red River gulped its way past our back garden.
I tell my stories by accentuating my landscapes and portraits with vibrant, color. The fast drying acrylic paint lets me be spontaneous and offers me the brightness I require. Transparent glazes help me give depth to my subjects. Oil paint allows for thick, buttery impasto, or velvety color gradation and Watercolor reveals each subject in glazes of tranparent colored light. I want to direct the viewer by using exaggerated local color and pushing the contrast.
I am on a quest to discover the making of things. Each subject I paint leads me to a revelation about the miracle of this world. Each landscape is a mystery I want to solve. Painting helps me gain a clearer perception, by studying what my subjects boldly, but silently, tell me.