the art of color

Color in landscape photography is important for showcasing the season as well as creating separation in an otherwise flat scene. Arizona is a state with diverse terrain and foliage that is best viewed in color. 

When seeking a corner of peace I go to water where color as reflections  inspires me to pour a palette and painterly dive deep. While painting on location, ducks swim by, turtles sun on the rocks,  children play on the grass, dogs bark and chase, and the wind rustles  the palm leaves.  Tucson's oasis, Agua Caliente.   

My art is inspired by all that surrounds me. Bright colors, abstract designs, unique shapes all fuel my imagination for this collection. My interpretation is to see life as a balance weighing to the side of joy and happiness. Tiny details of life that make you smile and bring you beauty.

Color stirs my emotions. Think excitement, peacefulness, stunned  silence.  In these works I was trying to capture the rapture of standing  in a field of wild golden poppies or pushing the hues just a bit to  emphasize the color of the light or just the natural color of the  painted desert.

My work focuses on the architecture of the unconscious and subconscious mind. Exploring different techniques such as long gestural strokes juxtaposed with bold mark-making helps me to create a disoriented mindscape. I layer my materials light and heavy to block out whole areas that construct an unfocused state. The mind intrigues me because things are often hidden from us. How are we affected? How does the human brain process emotion and trauma? What is revealed when we evaluate the unseen aspect of our true selves? Sometimes the memories can be easily accessed, yet experience creates layers, scars create marks, and we are tangled in our emotion. What is hidden from the subconscious? I explore this process while pushing and pulling my way through the architecture of the mind.

After many decades of exploring various lens based image making  techniques and subject matter,it is very clear to me that the human  experience and our environment, are both very important recurring themes  in my work. My “Cross Pollination” series started several years ago  after moving to our property in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here my  exploration, research and experiential learning about organic gardening  and natural desert vegetation became turbo charged. In this series I  express my inner dialogue symbolically through my conceptual still life  photography. The juxtaposition and composition of my subjects with my  paintings and mixed media, along with using light and shadow for drama  are all very important in the message I work to convey in these images.  My art is a creative fusion of several of my peas (pun intended). These  are planting, painting, photographing, pixel processing, and pondering  life! The intention is to direct the viewer to “see” my pondering. Of  course the viewer is always invited to just look at the image and decide  for themselves if it resonates with them in any way, but my titles are  given to help the viewer follow the path of thought that I have when I  look at the work.    

In my latest paintings I have kicked the use of color up a notch and  explored using colors I don't normally use! This has resulted in my work  still having a primitive feel but with a modern touch. I have also been experimenting on using an "alien color" in some works  which is something I had never tried before and the results lend an air  of the unexpected.  Using bolder blues than I usually do has added an exciting element to  some of my pieces. In contrast, in some of my new paintings I have  subtracted almost all color and that seems to have a calming, serene  effect.

This work represents my overall approach to color. I use it to convey  mood and message. With "Proud", I wanted a bold contrast of compliments  to express the subject's internal power. In "Ocotillo Blues" the mood is  subdued and the palette is one of calming. I want the viewer to  experience the cool of the desert nights contrasted with the earth's  heat of the day's intense sun. "El Morado Burro" is simply for fun and I  wanted the energy of the purples contrasted with the warm yellows and  reds to reflect the donkey's personality. Color has the power to support  and express the Artist's subject matter and message.

My work has always been about attitudes, choices and “active seeing”  versus merely “looking.” It’s about the nature of reality and what we  claim to know about it. Our brain creates our own image of the world for  us. So even the process of seeing is a creative process. As such, it  stands to reason we have the ability to affect that process - If we want  to.    The nature of Reality has neven been in greater question than it is  today. Developments in Quantum Physics and its many theories propose  many questions: How do you know what’s really there and what isn’t? How  do you know what things really look like? You don’t really know – you  just think you do. Parallel universes? Quite possibly. Orange water and  purple grass? You bet.    I make paintings for myself and people like me. I want each painting  to be its own experience. I am not interested in making pictures of  lovely things or places just as they appear to everyone else. I’m not  interested in giving you what you want to see in the same old ways  you’ve always seen them. I want to be challenged, I ask questions, I  want to be interested – when I’m painting and when I’m looking at  artwork.      Most of my images celebrate the hidden, or less-obvious aspects of a  landscape. My first consideration is always Composition – what could  make a good painting. Weight and counter-weight. Movement and  counter-movements. Visual Rhythm. Always the balance between  unity/variety, organization and chaos. Often they come from little  scenes people pass by every day, with neither the time or interest for  inquiry. My paintings neither supply nor require answers. They demand  nothing, except that you pay attention. To everything. 

I  love the intensity of color. Although sometimes I go for subtle,  generally I tend to go all in on vibrant, bright, warm, and juicy  colors. They make me feel so alive. My hope is that they convey a sense  of joy to the viewer, as they do for me.

My paintings lay bare the breadth and depth of human emotion, sometimes thunderous and sometimes subtle. Applications of paint, brush and line create two and three dimensional depictions of my soul responding to nature. A tension is created between the quiet, close up drawings and the bold abstract forms that float in and out of a single space, resulting in an expressive yet precarious balance. In making fluid and fiery marks, sometimes using nature as a guidepost, my artwork has evolved into abstract emotional expression. It feels musical to me, like jazz; improvising and depicting movement in unexpected directions by layering, erasing, and exposing a composition. This is a multi-sensory physical dialogue with the various art media within my reach.

White Cactus Flowers: When I painted this or any botanical piece, I aim  to capture what initially drew me to the subject.  I was captivated by  the traces of pink I noticed in the white flowers and wanted to  emphasize the color through out the work. It’s fascinating how much  color can be found in a subject that appears white. My hope is that you,  the viewer can experience some of the wonder I felt when I first saw  the beautiful white flowers. 

Bromeliad: The inspiration for this piece comes from a Bromeliad I  saw growing on the side of a tree while traveling in the Amazon  rainforest in Peru. I was drawn to the bright color of the flower and  the contrasting colors of in the plant.

My artworks are intended to share not only the beauty of the gifts of  nature but also the inspiration and metaphoric lessons found in nature. 

In this group of images, pink is the dominant color.   While not usually  in my color palette, this was an interesting exploration of the color  pink as it kept entering my orbit this month.  These images capture the  spectrum of pink’s emotional range from the vibrancy of the aurora, to  the delicate beauty of orchids, and the wistful charm of a flamingo.  It’s fascinating how colors can weave through our lives and evoke  different feelings and memories. I hope you enjoy my exploration of the  color pink.

Abstract art represents the most authentic expression of the sensory  connections I make in life. From music & nature to mundane everyday  life experiences, I pull energy from them and direct it to canvas to  find something new. The power I draw fills me with the joy of  possibilities. The potential of what can be. I paint abstractly to break  free from the limits of expected reality. I tap into the energy I pull  from all my senses and synthesize it into something new.        

Our world is growing more complex and seemingly more aimless each  day. From the latest gadgets, which we are connected to somehow, to the  daily churn of human drama, we all have to hang on to see where this  road will take us. As I have done most of my life, I created an off-ramp  to a world unmoored from the daily grind. My art represents what I'm  finding along the way.