Artist Statement

Art has transformative potential.  I create with intentionality, selecting the medium for the vision and considering implications of the materials. I invite people to step up close, to be joyful and surprised when they find something new in art.

I paint in oil, acrylic, and encaustic.  Oil paintings are typically detailed landscapes and animals. Acrylics tend toward gestural and abstract representations of subjects. Hikes often fill me with images I need to paint rapidly. For instance, thirty paintings of mountain gorillas after hiking in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and thirty things sighted on prairie walks but painted in a macro view.  Discovering encaustic (refined beeswax, resin, and pigment) was a revelation. In addition to painting, the medium facilitates repurposing items our society disposes of, heat fusing them into the piece of art. Encaustic is applied hot and has a vitality of its own. My encaustic work typically includes rusted metal objects, eco printed paper, or sun bleached bones.

My art involves the celebration of nature.  One of my goals in exhibiting art is to enable viewers to pause, reflect, and connect with the natural world.