Artist Statement

My paintings draw from my personal stories and daily walks in both the urban and rural landscapes of Ontario. From these I evolve a visual language that’s an expression of not just the physical landscape, but also interactions, time, sound, data, conversations—the graphic residue of my passage through this world. 

I work in layers of acrylic, graphite, pigment and crayon, building texture and depth. In an ongoing conversation with the work, I make marks on the painting, and then respond. Experiment and then pause. Risk and then retreat. The process is analogous to the layering of memory: marks are veiled, overwritten, or later exposed, revealing traces of their being, but always present.

Overall abstract, the paintings are deeply rooted in my physical and mental landscape, referring to the sun, to weather, bodies of water and rocky masses. Drawing hints at branches, leaves and plants, tree trunks, towers and doorways. Bits of handwriting, almost readable, are mixed with purely expressive gestures referencing my inner landscape, my emotional journey. Each painting encapsulates its own story as well as speaking to mine.

The feeling throughout is of the edges of a dream you can’t quite remember, a song or conversation almost heard, frail hopes and half remembered stories; fleeting moments. Point of view is fluid. Imagery fragments: drawn and then erased or obscured, leaving a sense of vacancy. Vestigial images drift across veils of space, transient, as though their time here is limited.

The paintings carry a sense of the fragility of human stories and memories. There is a feeling that we have just missed something meaningful, leaving behind an echoing sense of longing. And yet, I hope to communicate promise. Upward motion, energetic gestures and flecks of colour populate the surfaces–tiny signifiers of rising, escaping, of dreams and hope.