the high feather experience

Three of my newest works are listed on this page.  My works tells of my painting experiences and while they are figurative in nature, they are expressionistic, abstract and contemporary.  They exhibit an academic feel to them because I learned from the experience of painting.  I have been painting for a long time and of course, anything you do often and continually, your process and outcomes get better and better and it becomes a familiar place to be.

what I learned from black, 48" x 48", 2013

high feather, 60" x 30", 2013

These three works are older paintings that I reworked and the surfaces have a deep textured appearance.  Paintings are also gestural in style, painted quickly, intuitively rendered, in an unconscious manner; almost knowing by heart where each paint stroke belongs.  But, when I step back from each work, I realize consciously what I need to do and rework.  Painting is a strange form of activity; mysterious, a beautiful journey and an anxious pursuit for me.

new painting, she said, 72" x 52", 2013

This December, 2014, I am included in a group exhibition called PAINT! at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art.  Two of these pieces will be included in this show.

kotzebue finds

Ken booked a companion flight for me and wanted to show me a true Alaskan village.  He has often flown there with his work and loves the town of Kotzebue. It turned out to be a great idea and I really caught the true essence about living in the Arctic.  Although we didn't experience the community first hand and walked around on our own, the sights made up for this difference.

Kotzabue, view from our hotel window

salmon drying by the sea

Along out walks by the Chukchi Sea, we stumbled upon the many drying shacks where the natives hang their fish and complete their harvesting, a wondrous abandoned bullet holed Quonset hut, subtle colors that hemmed the disheveled huts, sunlit grasses along with feeling the immense extreme of the Arctic winds and cold was impressionable.

love the subtle colors and worn look!

playing in the fox tail grasses

We stayed for close to three days; an hour and a half plane ride over much of tundra, the massive Yukon River, winding rivers and lakes, snow capped mountains was mesmerizing.  We stayed at this sterile hotel (one of two in Kotzebue) but it did have a great windowed restaurant overlooking the sea, where sea gulls coasted in one place by the winds and where I got to observe hundreds of white caps.  The room was brightly lit with the massive sunlight that flooded upon us.  The power of the sea struck me as very full and almost menacing.

abandoned Quonset hut

fall colors by the shoreline