I am drawn to, and fascinated by, natures patterns. The information in every square foot of our landscape is overwhelming. Painting these scenes are uniquely challenging. How do I get the immediate feeling without painting realistically, which I would never have the patience for? This most recent painting, “Layers of Reality”, is a 40 x 40 canvas…it needed to be large. The subject, a still pool full of last years leaves creating a swirling pattern and layered with reflections of surrounding trees, was terrifying to me in its complexity. My only solution is to jump in, and paint intuitively letting the image evolve. When I was done I didn’t know how I felt about it or even if it was indeed finished. I showed it to my critique group, who pronounced it the best painting I had ever made! High praise from this group of painters. There are many more images in this series of paintings about natural abstractions in the landscape yet to paint, and I can’t wait learn what they have to teach me.
