I create drawings and paintings using conventional drawing materials and water-based paints. I use languages of marks that I have developed over time. These marks have evolved in response to the specific tools and materials in hand, and I use them in ways that make natural sense to me.
I combine marks to create improvised drawings and paintings, and I as I'm working, I relate my work to sound. As musicians understand themes and motifs with underlying bar counts and chord structures, as they riff on established themes, and create variations within a composition, so I use visual elements to create each new work with varying melodic lines and tonal color structures using both harmony and dissonance to create interest.
Thinking about the golden mean, a Fibonacci sequence or other mathematical rhythms and ratios as witnessed in the natural world, I layer and build the work. I think of building up a work as being parallel to how a wasp might build a mud nest or a paper nest or the way a spider might construct a web. This is akin to the sound of the bumblebee, the wind through tall grass, or birdsongs influencing or inspiring musicians.
The specific life situation I am in or studio setup I have helps determine how any given drawing, painting, or series may emerge. I model my studio and sketchbook work as a musician might approach a practice room. In the final works, I present the best of what I've learned from all the practice. Animals and plants seem to be born knowing how to create what they do. It appears to be both thoughtfulness and instinct that guide their actions, and I aspire to bring that balance to my hand.
Do you have questions about my work that are not answered here? Send me a note!