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Environment

Inspired by locations I have been, these environments tell a complex tale of transitions and placements. Their stories are individual but binding to the places that have resonated with me. 

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Wiegracht - 98 x 80 cm
Wiegracht - 98 x 80 cm

Wiegracht started at my Affordable Art Fair residency in Amsterdam and finished with the reintroduction of my scrambled text. I coded the alphabet so I could use it in my work without distracting the viewer. You get the decoder ring when you buy it.

Vuurgracht, Canal Series - 2018
Vuurgracht, Canal Series - 2018

I just could not get this orange fire bright enough - I want the eye to sweep into it and burn there.

70 x 60 cm

Moving Cotton - 2015
Moving Cotton - 2015

My adjustment to Amsterdam life started when I got a studio space. 'Moving Cotton' is the first painting that really expresses how I feel about the life I have created here. The motion of the canals and structure of the city are vibrant and rich in the compositon - it's definitely one of my favorite pieces.

86 x 70cm

Singel, Canal Series - 2015
Singel, Canal Series - 2015

Amsterdam has a lot of rain and I am really inspired by what happens to all that water. The organization and system of canals here has inspired a collection of paintings that combine the flow of water as well as the organization behind the city I love.

110 x 98cm

Prinsen, Canal Series - 2015
Prinsen, Canal Series - 2015

Prinsengracht is one of the bustling canals here in Amsterdam. The intense blue in the deep left reminds me of busy crocodiles, just like the crowds of people that swarm the canal.

113 x 110cm

 

Heren, Canal Series - 2016
Heren, Canal Series - 2016

Of all of the canals here in Amsterdam, Herengracht is the one I have spent the most time on, so for me, it has more complexity and diversity than the others. This piece enchants me with it's full range of blues and vibrant yellow.

91 x 88cm

Amstel, Canal Series - 2016
Amstel, Canal Series - 2016

Amstel runs along the east of Amsterdam and though it's not a made canal, the river has been shaped and contained over time. When you follow the Amstel deeper away from the city, you see the land open up around it. Flat meadow like farms and large embankments, it's lovely.

60 x 65cm

Geldersekade, Canal Series - 2016
Geldersekade, Canal Series - 2016

Geldersekade is in the midst of the red light district and though I am not there often, it's rich history and reputations are alluring. I struggled a bit with the balance of red to yellow here, but in the end, the mystery and haze that emerges is one that represents the many layers this canal offers. 

74 x 63cm

Arctic Ice, Group Palette - 2015
Arctic Ice, Group Palette - 2015

Sometimes a place only exists online. In my online Facebook world, I decided I wanted to make my community there more visible - so I asked for a palette from my peers and with that palette I create this piece. 'Arctic Ice' bridges the gap between my world online and the studio I create in. 

66 x 56cm

i22 San Francisco - 2006
i22 San Francisco - 2006

While I lived in San Francisco for eleven years I moved every two years, each time into more and more compact spaces. I22 symbolizes that movement from space to compact, bright compartments.

60 x 46cm - stretched

Cloud Atlas for Dummies - 2015
Cloud Atlas for Dummies - 2015

The Netherlands makes amazing clouds - the kind that have inspired the painting masters for centuries. With an eye on the sky and a limited palette, I focus this series on the misty heavens here in Amsterdam and what I imagine them to be hiding. 

48 x 48cm

Cloud Atlas - 65 x 55 cm
Cloud Atlas - 65 x 55 cm

Clouds with light behind them are mesmerizing. In this piece, purple worked its way into my sky as well as some organic creatures. I imagine that they are chasing the light the way that we Amsterdam’ers chase the sun.

All Hail the Glitterati - 49 x 37 cm
All Hail the Glitterati - 49 x 37 cm

The Glitterati focused on glitter bombing politicians and came to fame in the US during the 2012 presidential elections. Though I was not a part of this movement, the glitter bomb played a large part in my adjustment to living in Amsterdam

Dirty Twin - 80 x 70 cm
Dirty Twin - 80 x 70 cm

I wanted to do a piece that directly expressed conflicts I experienced moving to Amsterdam. The side on the right reflects my deep longing for my family at home, while I offset those emotions to create and build a new life here in Amsterdam. The result reminds me that both missing and creating can happen at once.

Homey - 2015
Homey - 2015

In my 20's in San Francisco I used to collage a lot in my pieces - they were thick and raw with mediums, gravel and orange peels. When I laid down the base for 'Homey,' I reconnected to that time in SF. The intensity of the colors and thickness of the mediums do feel like coming home.

73 - 57cm

Fly Fly, Group Palette - 2015
Fly Fly, Group Palette - 2015

Since I enjoyed working within my Online community for 'Arctic Ice' I opened up the request again for another Group Palette on Facebook. This sunset scene feels like it comes right from the park by our house, I see people relaxing, birds in flight and even a few watery pools. It was a great experience to create from the community again.

66 x 50cm

g2 San Francisco - 2006
g2 San Francisco - 2006

There is a thick mapping underlayer in this piece that makes me remember what it was like to live in San Francisco. The connected transit lines, the small green spaces and foggy summers. I see that I am trying to connect the lines here in the experience of that city.

46 x 46cm - stretched

 

Emotive

Sometimes I create a painting from a purely emotional space. These pieces reflect an instinctual and raw side of my nature as an artist. They do not want to be balanced or pretty. They want to be their own expressive space - free from constraints, and in that way, utterly cathartic.

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409 - 70 x 67 cm
409 - 70 x 67 cm

Growing up, 409 was the go-to industrial cleaner and I see it here on the lower right - trying to purge out the obvious cellular chaos. In this piece, I am literally translating the war against virus onto canvas. I don’t normally paint this way, but we are in a pandemic, so there’s that.

Rose Bodies - 49 x 37 cm
Rose Bodies - 49 x 37 cm

The original layers of this painting came from 2017. I didn’t think I had touched it since then. Oddly, when I pulled it from the shelf I saw it was complete just the way it was. It had come together without me and I found it like a small treasure.

voices - 40 x 25 cm
voices - 40 x 25 cm

Sometimes a painting will snap together on its own. There is a wave of voices flowing through this one, my job was to surf.

Out of time - 35 x 30 cm
Out of time - 35 x 30 cm

Yes, there’s a clown fish floating around in this composition, but it’s no space to be looking for it’s son. It is a tidal shift that moves from the warm to cold waters as the earth heats up.

P.Muidergracht - 70 x 60 cm
P.Muidergracht - 70 x 60 cm

There is a willow tree along P. Muidergracht. It droops into the canal and touches the water. Everytime I see it, it stirs something peaceful. I can see it here in this piece.

Another one lost - 80 x 55 cm
Another one lost - 80 x 55 cm

This canvas is the first to combine collaged images and cut holes stiched together. My guess is that it will not be the last.

Unreconciled - 24 x 18 cm
Unreconciled - 24 x 18 cm

Full of sparkle, yet undetermined. There’s an edge to this piece that is slightly uncomfortable, but dynamic.

Overtime -67 x 36 cm
Overtime -67 x 36 cm

I fought with this composition for many many months. I layered paint and took it away many times. This happens from time to time with a piece, but as long as I am patient it seems that there will always be one day where the pieces snap into place. 'Overtime' found itself after I surrendered to the process and gave it space.

67 x 36cm

A hand apart - 65 x 30
A hand apart - 65 x 30

This piece as was incomplete. When I am working on a painting I will take photos so that I can see the composition smaller on my phone. One night, while on the couch, I scrolled through my images and there it was, and I could suddenly see exactly what was missing, it was just a hand apart

Arc - 25 X 20 cm
Arc - 25 X 20 cm

The intersection of organic and organized. The structure and texture of this piece is both calming and disruptive.

Beige - 2016
Beige - 2016

There’s a bit of gesture here in the bland color that looks like a passive sort of graffiti. Though the palette is subdued, the texture and shine of this piece keeps the eye moving.

88 x 95 cm

It's better this way - 30 x 24 cm
It's better this way - 30 x 24 cm

Nothing is sacred in the studio. Sometimes old things transform into something new and it’s better this way. There’s no stagnation in creativity and a piece is never finished until it’s out of my sight. This piece is a refreshing reminder as it’s the second time I have said it’s finished.