"Untitled" 8"x 10" Acrylic/Mixed Media on Panel In recent years I have become more and more interested in collage especially with newspaper. Often stories get buried under layers of paint forever preserved to the history from which they came and yet, in the present, sealed to the surface of the panel. This said, the outermost layers appeal to me more as visual texture than content.
My training at The University of Georgia was very academic and for lack of a better way of saying a very figurative program. Relentless in-depth study of human anatomy, dissecting cadavers in the biology lab, learning to draw and study in the traditions of the great masters. Model after model, pose after pose, hours and hours of figure work, how I miss the academic rigor to figure drawing. Despite this immense joy, or maybe I should say “because” of this rigor I discovered a disciplined approach to my practice. I have a genuine love for exploring color and texture, often producing my final product out of many layers. I of course am fascinated and always contemplating our shared human need to scratch out a meaning, interpretation, purpose or simply what is found to be beautiful in our shared world for the short time we are here. I have always been pulled to the primitive, the simple hand scratching, chipping, carving, “I have this to say !”. Whatever “this” is,of course varies from...
I have always had an affinity for plants, especially tropicals. Approximately a year ago I discovered a love for cacti. In this brief time I seem to have accumulated around twenty-two of these prickly guys. As someone that has to be consistently busy, I have had to learn a little patience. I am especially attracted to the variety of shape and texture that occurs amongst the many different species. This makes sense when one considers the prominence of texture in my painting. I marvel at the slow unrelenting determination these plants have for survival, seemingly at peace within themselves, allowing growth to simply happen without fight.
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