I make paintings of women, the sea, mysterious encounters and uncommon places. These works occupy a cerebral, mythic landscape, full of reality and dreams.
The scale of much my recent work projects the feeling of being able to physically enter the painting’s terrain and become part of the narrative. These women are life-sized, or larger than life. The viewpoint is often just outside the picture plane – one more step and you enter the painting. Most of the settings of my paintings are places of reflection and contemplation. I have always felt the ocean to be a magical place. I am stirred by the sea’s endless sky and the perfect light. I grew up along the Massachusetts coast, and my paintings often include the gentle dunes and ancient stone walls that crisscross New England coastlines.
Birds, especially seabirds, have long been choreographed into my work, sometimes as companions, other times as avatars of change, growth, or escape. The conjunction of women and birds placed in enigmatic landscapes evokes an especially vivid dream. The prototypes for the surreal, shape-shifting striped tents in many of these landscapes actually exist on the island of Chappaquiddick, Martha’s Vineyard.