I am interested in the personal and incidental relationships we encounter in our daily, quotidian human exchanges. This part of our existence informs my work. I make paintings that utilize the wood grain of a tree, its internal history, as a parallel to our interior lives and its connection to these meaningful occurrences. While the paintings are abstract, without overt narrative, they contain dialogues and exude persona. Each painting begins with a drawing. Outlines of wood grain are drawn onto an individual panel or canvas. The selection of grain is based solely on intuition and the visual relationship to the structural square of the panel. I then impose a particular and intimate geometry onto the wood grain drawing. An aggregation of these outlines, with some editing and manipulation, determine the completed drawing. The painting begins only after the composition is finalized and the drawing finished. The creation of dense fields of mixed color charge these predetermined boundaries, already ripe with literal and psychological overtones into uncanny narratives. The application of the acrylic paint is poured and puddled as visible brushstrokes are meticulously avoided. As the first colors are added, the palette is modified. Undiscovered relationships based on the juxtaposition of colors emerge and suggest further refinement. Dimensionality, all but non-existent in the drawing stages, increases markedly as the range and vibrancy of the colors create an ephemeral though unmistakable depth.
