The Evolution Of An Artist

 Like most artists my art is constantly evolving.

In the early days I was most in interested in creating a copy of the object.  I did a lot of detailed sketching, portrait work, and took many many classes.

work in progress circa 2004

I always had an interest in texture, and in papers so I took a week long work shop with a fabulous collage artist Carrie Burns-Brown, which started me thinking more about shape and colour as opposed to  simply copying what was before me.

collage, post Carrie Burns-Brown work shop circa 2007

I started also to become more interested in how texture and paint interacted, the affects reminded me of the fossils I have collected my entire life.

the beginning of texture in the works 

I was still adding elements of realism, but things were definitely leaning more and more to abstract, also I was starting to use my artist voice to express my environmental concerns, I went through a period where all of my art was 'political'

paved paradise, political art

Another pivotal workshop with Rainey Tischad introduced me to texture mediums and gels which I started adding to the works

texture mediums, starting to tell part of the story. circa 2011


With time and experimentation this is where we are today, letting the shapes, texture and glazing of highly thinned liquid acrylic tell the story...There is still an underlying message about environmental issues: habitat loss, micro environments and disappearing landscapes.
If anything I'm more intent on using my art to bring attention to rampant urbanization, unnecessary use of herbicides and pesticides, and generally thoughtless destruction of the environment. 
  

the process I'm still a realist at heart but I've given over control of the paint to the texture that I painstakingly build, and let the story emerge from there. It's been quite a journey, and it's not over. Evolution continues. 

finished work, note the inter play between the texture and glaze circa 2015

 
                                  With each new painting I find better ways to communicate.

                                        It will be interesting to see where I go from here!