Artistic Approach - I walk with trees
I am a truth and presence seeker in my work. Often my approach is dictated by a personal or social issue that I am grappling with, where the destination, outcome or answer is unclear. Often these emotional thoughts and feelings are unformed, and I seek through observation and interaction with the subject matter to discover the hidden shape of them, to delve to what lies beneath the surface and uncover or reveal what lies hidden.
The way I paint or draw, the materials and mediums I choose are often symbolic. For example, in my 'I Walk With Trees' series of works, I knew that I wanted to use ink, encaustic and flame in the expression of this series because through this series, I wanted to grapple with the loss of our home to a devastating fire and the dreams that followed where I saw, night after night - for months - the works of my studio succumbing to that fire. Choice of medium and relevance of medium to the subject are of critical importance to me and often carry an emotional connection or reasoning. To me the works lost to the flames represented hopes for my future and I knew that I needed to grapple with these issues artistically to derive healing and acceptance so as to walk forward.