Lake Michigan Sunset Painting

I am inspired by Nature and the living world around me. Having grown up in rural Michigan, I spent my childhood as “Nature’s Girl,” relishing in all the beauty and power the flora and fauna of the outdoor world had to offer. I often accompanied my fly fisherman father on trips to northern Canada where the clean crisp air and pristine lakes further fueled my reverence for the natural world. Everything I have seen in my life, every bit of light and shadow and color and shapes are remembered and regarded as the source of subject matter in my work. My paintings are semi-real and semi-abstract all at once and my approach reflects this dichotomy. I research and reference many photos, other works of art and my visual memory to mash them all up into compositions that pull together bits and pieces of each. Fields, forests, lakes, seascapes, and horizon lines; all the shapes and patterns of the natural world inform the contextual picture plane of my work. I carefully map out the colors, sometimes manipulating my references on the computer to suit my tastes before I settle on the painting’s final palette. The color is important to the composition as it can temporally influence the mood and content, adding to the dimension of the work. I am interested in how natural forms can relate to or mimic human forms. Structure, weight, pattern, and dimension are key factors both nature and humans have in common. I believe that, for many people, the everyday chaos we experience in our lives have obscured our relationship to and with nature. We have always been an integral part of nature, whether we are aware of it or not. Not only do I want to create work that visually relates a sense of peacefulness and tranquility to the viewer, but also, I want it to tap into the contradictions of nature. Where there is power and magnificence, there also exists fragility. It is important to me that my work serves as a symbol of stewardship and respect. In this time of climate change, my desire is to bring an artistic vision of how we, as humans, need to be careful, aware, and sensitive to all of Nature’s ecologic systems.