Paintings

My paintings originate from a completely nonverbal or even a preverbal place. The paintings always begin as drawings in my sketchbook, drawings that I contemplate and ruminate on for some time before actually beginning the painting.

As with my work in other media, my paintings are elemental, personal, and spiritual. They are reflective of my primary life energies, which have always been focused on cultivating, expanding, and enhancing spiritual connections and the development of inner quietude.

As an avid hiker and backpacker, I spend a great deal of time outdoors. In both subject and in theme, my paintings express my love and reverence for the natural world. Much of my work is inspired by nature and (more directly and intimately) by the curative powers of the wild.

The pull of transformation is a recurring theme in my life and in my work. Like plants and flowers in nature, we, as human beings, experience continual transformation in our own lives – in the dynamic and diverse manifestations and expressions of the self. Even in death, the withered flower sows the seeds of new beginnings – of new life – a mythical form of transformation in its own right. The role of “change” – the regenerative nature of transformation – in the natural world and in human existence figures significantly in my paintings

Many of my paintings exemplify my lifelong and ongoing struggle to remain faithful to my creative self – to stay strong, energetic, and vibrant in the life I live and the work I do.

Finally, much of my most recent work is inspired by my beloved mother. Many of these pieces were painted during her last few years as she courageously struggled with the physical and mental challenges that can come with staying on the earth for a long time. Her life and her death – that ultimate transition – have figured prominently in a number of my paintings both in subject and in theme.