Although I began my career as an artist painting portraits, my fascination with pattern and abstract form eventually took precedence over depicting the objects or people in front of me.  For most of the 1990’s, my paintings were brightly colored abstracts.  Upon moving to Santa Fe in 2001, however, my love of the New Mexican landscape led me to begin to experiment with painting Southwestern terrain in a more muted palette.  My current series of paintings are the culmination of over ten years of observation of the tones and forms of the high desert landscape. 

As an artist, I am perpetually torn between portraying what I see and trying to depict what I feel.  The unique shapes that I see in rocks and trees appeal to the abstract artist within me and allow me to paint works that, although clearly realism in the traditional sense, are not standard southwestern landscapes.  I enjoy the strong contrasts of light and dark and am drawn to the negative areas within an image, as well as the abstract forms within the larger shapes.  In addition to attempting to simplify what I see, I strive to create a painting that incorporates both delicately detailed smooth areas and more loosely painted sections where the brush marks are clearly visible. Although nature is my inspiration, the real motive behind my art is to create order out of chaos, to develop a greater understanding of the world around me by simplifying and clarifying my vision.