Artist’s Statement

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“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” Rumi

I am deeply stirred by something unpredictable about wild terrain. It is also why I am drawn to abstract painting. Each splash of paint calls for a new response, every shape or line creates a different problem that must be solved. An abstract painting grows into itself and cannot be known ahead of time. Even after I’ve finished a painting, I usually have no idea how I did it: it is a call and response, moment by moment, that can never be replicated, (though I have unsuccessfully tried).

It is the unexpected that delights: a wildflower pushing up through decaying leaves, an accidental smear that leaves a beautiful mark on my canvas.  These are gifts—if I anticipate them I’m often frustrated. Suddenly I’m quite interested in the mark I did not try to make. All at once a happy accident pulls the painting in a direction I want to follow. It is only then that I am able to use the discernment honed through practice to build a composition that incorporates both the quiet expanse and riotous energy of the wilderness I love.

I maintain studios in Berkeley and Mt. Shasta, CA. My work has been shown on the West Coast and collected nationally.