I love painting the natural world. My focus is light, movement and color whether my subject is landscape, still life, the figure, or abstraction. Long days spent in new or familiar places fuel my imagination. In my studio I begin new paintings or re-work images by adding texture and layers. The energy and struggle of my exploration is essential to my process.
The pleasure of painting on location is enhanced by joining like-minded painters who are also ecstatic at the prospect of painting in remarkable landscapes, watching nature change all around us. Each year I join a group of painters at the coast. I first painted with many of them when I joined Nelson Sandgren’s painting class at Oregon State University in 1971. We brave the elements, engage in conversation about each other’s work and laugh with the joy and mess of it all. Nelson’s son Erik Sandgren now heads up the group and provides the structure by sending out the itinerary of sites where we meet. This yearly adventure at the central Oregon coast has been a big factor in my development as a painter.
I am more introspective when I am alone in my studio and I find that my imagination leads me to surprising conclusions about my work. Sometimes my paintings evolve slowly and at other times I find myself with a finished work very quickly. I am interested in using a wide range of techniques rather than searching for a step-by-step process that would lead me to lose interest in my own work. I enjoy the act of painting and the reward of feeling that I have gained an insight, regardless of the success of the finished piece.