I am interested in the challenge of capturing the great aesthetic of the Canadian landscape, in representing the relationship between land, light, and colour at a particular moment. For me a sense of honesty is achieved by painting landscapes. My paintings aim to encapsulate the essence of a moment, when the landscape aesthetic overwhelms the senses.
I see my paintings as having strong historical ties to the Canadian landscape tradition. This tradition begins with the eighteenth centuring English survey watercolourists who came to Canada as surveyors and while here attempted to capture the Canadian wilderness landscape as a record of Canada to take back home. Perhaps the most direct influence on my painting is found in the work of such people as Tom Thompson and the Group of Seven whose primary aim is to capture the Canadian landscape as it is experienced by the painter. Many of their artistic values can be said to originate with the nineteenth century Impressionists and these values have not gone unnoticed in my own work.
I work in a variety of mediums, including watercolour, acrylic, collage and linoleum block printing. Through the use of texture, mixed media, strong compositional lines, and by removing the sky/horizon at the top of the picture plane, these paintings attempt to capture the viewer. I want to slow the viewer into spending time looking, being in a distilled moment.
I studied art in Ottawa, Banff, and New York City. I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York. I spent many years painting and teaching art in Alberta. I now live and paint in Victoria, BC, and spend my summers painting in Temagami, ON.