Artist Statement

 

Immigrating to the US from England when I was two, and then growing up in the Pacific Northwest, has given me a unique perspective as a creative. I felt very much like the main character in Robert Heinlein’s story, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” which I read on a plane traveling alone for the first time across the Atlantic. I was 18. Caught between homes and cultures, rootless and restless, I searched for my place. This same kind of searching is in my art practice, feeling tribeless, with no sense of home realized, painting or drawing becomes the new land or experience: partly real, partly idealized, and partly nostalgic. 

 

One series of paintings shows my enchantment with the American diner. A ‘world’ that embodies for me something comforting and nolstagic. I love breakfast and so this series expresses one of my daily pleasures. One should always make time for daily pleasures.

 

My favorite artists include Edward Manet, Berthe Morisot, Edward Hopper, David Hockney, and Wayne Thiebaud. But I am inspired by my California Photorealist teachers: Bob Bechtle, James Torlakson, and Jack Mendenhall and the photographer: Sue Ciriclio. My paintings are acrylic on canvas, a medium I came to through drawing and watercolor. 

 

My images begin with personal experiences and perceptions, which I conceptually elaborate and interpret using color. The color sets the mood. The creative process allows me to see myself and beyond myself at the same time. For me, painting combines the present with past and future moments. During my artistic practice, experiences are synthesized into layers of painted moments.