Oil Paintings
LANDSCAPE OIL PAINTINGS
My deep and inclination and affinity toward all things in nature have been with me for as long as I can remember. Living in the northern forest and lake country of the upper Midwest, I find unlimited inspiration in the ever-changing woodland landscape, shimmering lakes and flowing streams. My fascination for the changes and transformations repeatedly taking place in nature inspire me in countless ways. They hold memories, musings, dreams and awakenings. I see parallels in the life and processes of nature that mirror human existence. We live, transform, suffer, are renewed, die and are reborn again and again. Nature tells it story and it tells our own.
My goal in this series of paintings is to not focus on merely copying what I see in nature, but rather to observe and "feel" the natural world, deduce its essence and then retell that essence in a representational way that I hope will move and inspire the viewer on an emotional, psychological and spiritual level, and will connect the viewer to a deeper understanding of the mystical that is present in nature and in all of life. The beauty and elegance of nature captivates, but within that beauty there is much more occurring - things that may not be immediately noticeable or perceived. On the surface the landscape awes and inspires the viewer, but disguised is what lies within and what lies beneath the surface?
Clearly, we are living in a time like no other. Never before has any life form existed on this planet that has had such a profound impact on the Earth as humans. The enormous population of humans on this planet and its demand on natural resources has affected all aspects of life - our own and that of the planet itself. Our earth and human processes are the same, we are nature - not separate from it. Our life processes mirror each other and as one suffers or flourishes so does the other.
What has always been intriguing to me has been the way in which suffering can often be hidden, disguised and unknowable both in nature and in the human experience. Suffering is often invisible to others and what appears beautiful can also be destructive. I call it a terrible beauty. I cam a cross a book many years ago of photographs taken from space craft. The images were striking, elegant and beautiful to behold, but when I read the captions, many turnout to be images of oil spill, the burning of rain forests for agriculture, and pollution. I shocked me that these stunning images were toxic. And I pondered how suffering is often unseen, misunderstood and masked as something other than what it is. Are we not also suffering and wounded, I thought, unable to reveal what lies beneath our exterior selves? These are the questions I attempt to explore and hope will inspire the viewer to also reflect on. In my artworks, I ponder the intricacies of life on Earth and the parallel of how humanity mirrors the process of life, death and rebirth on the planet, in the cosmos and within the human journey. I am curious by the way things appear and how they truly are.
