Artist Statement
I begin each piece by creating a collage background of book pages from various sources. I like late nineteenth century and early twentieth century books for their beautiful intricate engravings, drawings and the golden brown paper. I use more modern sources also including: botanical drawings, mechanical drawings, maps, mathematical/geometric drawings, architectural drawings, medical/anatomical illustrations, non English texts (and no I can't read them), illustrations of ancient cave drawings and other archaeological sites, etc.
Over the collage I paint with acrylic paint, oil sticks, and sometimes water color. I allow the painting to develop organically. I like to allow the paint to drip and puddle so that the form is truly organic. The pieces usually take on a kind of watery garden, cloud forest, misty luminous surreal dreamscape/landscape quality.