Moments before dawn, a special light illuminates nature. These few seconds before sunrise are when the woods seem silent and expectant. Both a sense of serenity and of possibility fill the air; there is a surging sense of nature’s energy balanced by an aura of peacefulness. I am interested in the mood felt when surrounded by the woods at this point in time. I use many black and white photographs, plus color photographs, to catch this moment. These photographs, along with sketches, form a source material which I then manipulate and refocus to create these paintings. Technically the paintings require a great deal of time to create with at least six layers of paint built up ¡n each area. I keep translucent pigments in their transparent state and opaque pigments in their opacity and integrate together strokes of the two types paint. Glazing over an alternately brilliant white ground and a subtly tinted ground helps create a strong sense of light. In part, these paintings derive from a period when I lived on 400 acres of pristine forest populated by wild turkey, geese and deer. In these woods, even when the silence is complete and the woods seem empty, nature is always expectant with life and light.
Bend, oil on wood panel, 36x36
Redbud, oil on wood panel, 36x36
Suspend, oil on wood panel, 36x36
Tilt, oil on wood panel, 36x36
Glimmer, oil on wood panel, 36x55
Garden Series: Stone, Wood, Air, oil on wood panel, 36x36
Garden Series: Stone, Wood, Sphinx, oil on wood panel, 36x36
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