Oil paintings represent a major shift in my artwork since 2000. I felt a desire for a change after ten years painting very realistic watercolor still lifes. Despite the wide diversity in subject matter and the perpetual pleasure of searching for interesting objects and backgrounds to paint, I was ready to explore an entirely different medium, style and subject matter. British oil painter Ken Howard in his instructional video: “Inspired by Light: Painting in Oils” says that he wakes up feeling a buzz about getting to his painting each day. When you no longer feel the buzz or feel that you’ve said what you wanted to say and done what you wanted to do, you should make a change. That was certainly true for me. I also wanted to refresh and draw more deeply from my creative well...to do work that had deeper emotional resonance for me. 

I have always been attracted to the medium of oil and had worked in it briefly a few years ago in an effort to replicate my watercolor style. This was not what I wanted to do now, however. The epiphany during my exploratory transition period was that my own photography would be the source of the imagery for my new direction (though not necessarily rendered in an extremely realistic style as my watercolors).

Initially, the imagery in my oils, as much of my photography, represented intimate, inviting landscapes that reflected what my eyes have always been strongly drawn to...dramatic patterns of light that tease and entice one to enter private, solitary worlds. I can trace these visual affinities back to my earliest visual memories...lying in bed as a child mesmerized by car light  “trains” traveling across the night ceiling or, as a teenager, gazing out of my bedroom window at tree tops, imbuing each shape with a different meaning. Scenes of utter serenity for me are the play of dappled light across an expanse of lush green grass and the long, evocative shadows of late afternoon light. These seductive “light shows” have been intense nonverbal experiences that moor and replenish me.

More recently I have been exploring the intriguing variations of water reflections.  Sometimes they are exact mirror images of the nature surrounding the water or Rorschach-like designs.  Ripples and disturbances in water form fascinating abstract patterns.

It is every artist’s quest to continually catch hold of his or her special affinities, unravel their meaning, and translate them into a visual language that speaks to others. 
 


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