Skyscapes
I often wonder; if you could see CO2, how would the earth appear as the ecosystem adjusts to the pollutants caused by human activity? Contemporary skies contain contrails, multiple layers of clouds, and exotic colors—light refracted by pollutants.
I collect imagery: photographs on my travels or scavenged from current media. I use technology as a tool to assemble, manipulate, distort, and alter lighting. This is the prism I apply to represent man’s impact. Viewers subtly detect the emanating effects, often reporting a fairy-tale or surreal response.
Often, nostalgic buildings are superimposed: old buildings denote my human history, and new buildings my choices for the future. They cling tentatively to the lower edge of the painting leaving the impression that both could be sucked up into the maelstrom that is developing overhead in the clouds as nature self-corrects. cloud sketches
Earth Matters
I abstract immense, but fragile, components of planet Earth. A structured process of studying, thinking, and planning generates a scene in my mind that I then layer onto the canvas. My source images incorporate, encaustic sketches, scars of natural disasters, scientific representations (satellite, thin section, seismic, aerial, telescopic, etc.), and nature’s patterns and colors.
I draw attention to the wonder of the earth as a precious jewel, not in a romantic way, but by offsetting harmony with turmoil. For example, wonder occurs when I observe a vast open desert miles from civilization; the discarded plastic diaper I observe there is the spark. The spark could also be a vein of color through a neutral ground, the color of air pollution, river pebbles worn smooth, the melting of a glacier, the sun reflected on high altitude clouds, abrupt edges where clouds meet sky or sky meets land. My goal is to create a visual that satisfies my desire to offset harmony with turmoil through my observation of the environment and current issues that I assimilate daily.
