Artist

My paintings borrow images of trees in the woods from the Maine coast and forests. My purpose is not to abstract the subject, but to recreate my experience in a painting. The paintings begin as ink drawings, to which I add many tonal layers of charcoal. I use a limited palette of browns and blues and a never-ending range of grays that create a sense of depth and space among the trees.

I fill in the deeper space of the forest first. Then I go over the surface of the canvas repeatedly, drawing and redrawing the subject, until I find a composition that allows them to sit within a three dimensional space that comes alive off the canvas. Continuing, I push the parameters of charcoal and oil on the same surface- I am delighted in their effects on each other and how they change the focus of color in the paintings. This process is a rewarding challenge because of the ways in which these mediums conflict when they are allowed to interact.

The woods as a subject hold a special connection for me because they are not static like a still life, landscape or sitting model. A forest is a space through which one moves. I place the viewer not at the edge of the trees or looking at the scene from a distance, but in the midst of it, off the beaten path and surrounded by the living woods. I feel part of a tradition of landscape painters affected by a location in nature and compelled to recreate that on canvas.