My watercolor paintings are about refuge and sanctuary. The natural world has always offered these to me, as I sought out its beauty, mystery and danger. As a young person I had an unforgettable experience in the winter forest of the Cache La Poudre wilderness area in Colorado, waking up in a frozen tent and skiing to a ridge alone. Looking toward the morning horizon and the range of mountains before me, hearing the wind in the pines and seeing the snow blowing mists off the mountain tops, I felt myself unite with my surroundings. The moment was transcendent, and my environs became my sanctuary. Since then I have sought the sublime in the landscapes I see and paint. Using watercolor, often with ink, my paintings are intricate, intimate interpretations of my observations of the places where I have had this experience.
Each painting contains the fragility of the places I am accustomed to take refuge in. The paintings of forest tangles are tangled because of the invasive species of vine that strangle the native trees, the forests of northern Colorado show trees that are dead because of pine beetle and forest fires. I do not seek out these features in my work, they are just there – observations of a altered environment. I am also drawn to the vestiges of the ruined terrain that is the result of the ecological disaster of the dustbowl. My paintings of this area in southeastern Colorado illustrate a failed search for a safe place - deserted homes and dead trees show the tragedy of a previous climate change. Can we still find refuge in nature considering the damage we inflict on it? Can there still be beauty to draw us in and help us to feel that loss of ego and unification with the world? The search ends in the fragments of the natural world that we have left – mediated through a car window, or happened upon in a suburban parking lot. These remnants, like the forests of Colorado or the woodlands of the northeast must be respected and honored – so I paint them and all the details of their beauty as our last places of refuge. I invite the viewer into my paintings, to experience the small details of the underbrush, the specificity of a particular tree, a larger sweep of the terrain, and perhaps a glimpse of the sublime.
