PLACES: REAL and IMAGINED

My life has been a journey, literally. I've lived in many different places in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, and traveled to many more places. When I've had access to interesting natural landscapes, I've anchored my art in plein air landscape painting. Other times I've focused on studio painting. My initial goal for studio painting was simply to develop larger scale landscape images. I found that when I work in the studio on a large scale, I want to let the paintings develop abstract elements, so that each painting can have a life it's own life and resolution.

In recent years I've been looking for areas that I can come back to and learn by painting over and over again, much like I learned the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey when I spent years painting there. The paintings in this show are part of that discovery and learning process. The New Mexico paintings are based on the high desert landscape around Abiquiu. The Texas paintings are from Caddo Lake and Cedar Creek Reservoir. The larger paintings show the synthesis between the realism of location and painterly abstraction.

My journey in painting, between realism and abstraction has been much like my life journey around the world. It has led me to some very interesting places, ripe for discovery.