I find inspiration from my surroundings. I create imagery from vignettes around my home, created or found still lifes, or views from my surrounding landscape. I work in oil painting, watercolor, drawing, and printmaking (linocut and aquatint). To create the imagery in my work, I will either draw from life, reference an earlier painting/study, work from memory or reference a photograph.
Rather than documenting a single moment in time, I strive to capture the multiplicity of layers that exist when experiencing or remembering a space, an object, or a landscape. An experience akin to finding a photograph after a very long period of time, reading a page from a childhood journal, or smelling something that reminds you of a vacation. Rarely, would a single image come to mind in these instances, but rather a layered and multidimensional memory of images, feelings, backstory, and interactions.
To support this, I like to have elements in my work that capture my in-the-moment decision making and my process. Often, I will leave graphite pencil marks visible, or have areas of transparency that showcase previous layers of work as a kind of record keeping of the life of the painting - how it started, how it progressed, and where it ended. Additionally, I am interested in color harmonies, how light is captured on form, and the quality of line and edges.
In order to bring this layered experience into my work, painting and drawing has become a practice in observing moments in everyday life. I have often felt that the act of painting and drawing is simply the act of seeing. Or put another way, of being present and of really noticing the details and textures of what surrounds me.