For me, painting is an additive and subtractive process. A straightforward landscape becomes layered with associative memories, paint is scraped away as feelings are dismissed or altered. This process of building and taking away is almost sculptural; with layers of color massed their substance sometimes removed to create form. I am interested in exploring the subconscious levels of emerging memories by actively painting, layering, scraping and erasing perceived images; the unforeseen marks left behind, often blurred and unclear, become metaphors of the struggle to maintain order in life’s revolving chaos. By examining color, line, and the symmetry of spaces in nature, I experience an almost meditative balance between what I see and what I feel. For me elements of nature correspond with human emotions. Studying the effects of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) in nature allow me to simplify the elements, focusing on the visual memory and experience. I would like to explore mixed media, combining painting with animation, photography and film. The installation becomes a meditative, sculptural experience where my viewer becomes one with the movement of light over a landscape, while listening to audio of human chants. Time becomes an infinite movement beyond human control.

In plein air painting I am often challenged by time and changing light, forcing me to make decisions on different levels and work rapidly through them, often leaving a faint emotional residue behind. A situation becomes memorable when a perceived knowledge of a place collides with a personal experience into that space. These collisions in life, however small are worth exploring; maybe even on an enlarged scale. “I want my viewer to experience the shapes and colors as I see then, so I paint large”. I continue to be influenced by teachers and friends past and present that includes such favorites as the late Richard Merkin. Bobby Oliver, Louisa Chase, Frank Olt , Daly Chihuly, Eric Fischl, John Chamberlain, Carol Robb, Graham Nickson, Clytie Alexander, Kathleen Kolb. From the successful days of Trompe L’oeil murals and painted finishes, of my early years as Virginia Designs, 285 West Broadway Studio, to my recent success as a classic oil portrait artist, I have emerged into a freer exploration of personal self. My focus continues in the accuracy of scale, realism and movement of light through a specific place. Painting large landscapes allows me to create this sense of place, while superimposing an animated light and shadow creates movement. Using personally recorded human interactions and meditative chants; I would like to explore these deeply personal sensory spaces, using mixed media installations. From the safety net of a landscape setting superimposed with the crossroads of changing light, human intent and colored emotion, my viewer emerges with a deeper sense of personal reflection.