Artist Statement

The passion to connect to the cycles and interwoven intimacy with the environment within which I live is potent. On my daily walks through the country side I collect earth’s treasures: bark, mosses, stones, flowers, or lichens, to create drawings that embody the experience of the forest. These become the practice of my art.

The mesmeric process of careful observation leads to making marks which are enhanced by the use of graphite pencils in which the time-consuming detailed approach exemplified in the textures is always visible. Every part of my drawings pulsates with life. At the same time, my technique is a metaphor for embracing the moment. It’s fascinating to me to work with the basic material of the earth – what was once life – to create works that are completely integrated with the images. In their extreme physicality the drawings engage with the landscape and its treasuries more directly.

Grounded in realism, the drawings navigate between reality and interpreted vision. Eliminating references to color, the monochromatic palette enables exploration into a scene or object simply and directly and with a sense of abstracted reality. Manipulating dark and light through a myriad of tonal contrasts goes beyond representation to where, layer upon layer, delicate strokes and nuances convey an ethereal, serene image.

The works are lyrical meditations and a practice of nurturing an understanding and appreciation for the incessant resilience of the flourishing and decaying of nature and the complexities of our relationship within those cycles. My hope is that through intense observation the complexities, interconnectedness, and teachings of the natural world force us to think about the intrinsic wonders as well as the consequences of our behavior to the planet.