I see art as a collaboration with nature. Together we create the real and sublime in one, providing a return from hectic and stress, from consumption and chaos, to meditative simplicity. In the clean lines of woodland trees or an undulating lake our senses are awakened to nature’s vivid detail. It is far too easy to forget about the perfect minutiae embodied in nature, and I paint scenes of natural moments to wake up, to calm and to bring a sense of peace.
As a true collaborator, I work directly in nature with nature, interpreting the Canadian landscape in ways that punctuate and realize the specific, keeping it in organic fluid surroundings. In coupling my initial idea with what nature provides, I am able to create a reality from the perspective of true attention. In keeping with simplicity I use a limited palette keeping backgrounds muted and soft which drives the eye forward to a fallen branch or a ripple on a lake. Subject matter is simplified eliminating all unnecessary information. I paint in oils and acrylics and like to capture the moment directly on the canvas so that the process of working everything out becomes part of the painting. Nature in all its metaphor then comes to life through how I perceive it.
As the collective unconscious of our modern world squeezes itself harder and more tightly, people living harried and hard, there is a longing for a return to simplicity and a wish for transcendence. Nature is far from simple, but it is us in our innate states, an us that existed before artifice and stress. One imperfectly perfect bird in a copse of trees may for that moment nourish the spirit; it may serve as a reminder that we all need to pay attention in order to regain ourselves.