Light and color fill the eye of my mind so full each day as I walk outdoors that I am overwhelmed. This perceived abundance is why I must create with what has filled me to excess and is overflowing. The desire to create finds manifestation in many forms, from sowing seeds to mixing oil paints.
The process of art making is about finding and maintaining growth, balance and vitality. Through my work I nurture growth, and from that growth I intend to harvest an abundance. My experiences with nature teach me about the shapes and forms of life, and observation builds visual research. I believe in building a life in harmony with my surroundings, the way that all animals do instinctively. Through art I feel the satisfaction that it brings to let my instincts guide my behavior. I am allowed to embrace both the playful and challenging aspects of life in a colorful way. Bringing the negative and positive aspects of my internal life out into the external world allows me to feel at home where I am, embedded in the ecosystem that surrounds me.
The inspiration and imagery represented in my paintings come from places I have been, forests I have known, and animals I have met. In my travels I am always collecting: feathers, memories, scents, colors, wildlife sightings, foreign languages, sea shells, seeds, ideas and rituals. All these golden bits of inspiration are filtered through my fingertips, my memory, and the space in my backpack. Inspiration comes from moments in life when I feel great emotion, or when I realize nature is teaching me something important.
My artistic approach is adapted to my current mode of travel and ranges from large scale oil paintings to tiny collages. Living and creating close to nature, moving and recording the whirring of the things that pass by, I reach back and grasp the fruits of my travels. Looking back on what has happened with nostalgia I choose what to develop further, but all of it is imbedded in my mind. Going deeper into what I have seen and piecing together the imagery allows me to learn from what has happened. Just as colors are reflected in order for our eyes to perceived them, so all the moments that make up experience are given various tints, shades and hues.
As a traveling artist and permaculture designer, I live in a multifaceted world of survival through balancing constant change with sustainability. As a human I must build, create, learn and harvest. The local climate provides what I need to grow, and what I learn from far away informs my decisions locally. Much of my time is spent growing gardens and sustainable living systems. I believe in the function of aesthetics and that art has a place in the handmade life. There is nowhere more perfect to grow and thrive than here and now.
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