My paintings reference significant places in my life, both past and present. From natural settings to mystical human-built landscapes, I absorb my immediate physical and emotional surroundings. I consistently feel the need to express geo-location – channeling particular experiences of time and place into the permanence of a two-dimensional surface.

I began my professional career as a civilian cartographer/draftsperson for the U.S. Department of Defense in Germany. My cartographic work set the foundation for aerial painting and continues to inform my work. I am drawn to the natural division of land through borders, walls and clearings; both natural and human built. Satellite imagery and topography provide unique perspectives for understanding the world around us in all its scale and complexity.

I pay close attention to systems of water through direct observation, nautical maps and marine charts. I am dedicated to the edges—finding a richness in the contours of where water and land meet—and I have started incorporating marks of sound into my work. Through the study of land, water and edges, I sustain my sense of a geo-autobiographical narrative. My paintings tell a deeply personal story rooted in obstacles, growth patterns and the delineation of a place, as well as openings, clearings and continuous fluctuations.

Inks, acrylics and oils offer wide latitude in the exploration of varied surfaces. Sometimes I pour a fluid underpainting of transparent color with overlapping linear edges and detailed patterns. Many paintings are created on the floor by moving and manipulating the canvas to see and feel the energetic flow of paint. In this way, otherwise static, physical materials become enduringly dynamic – mirroring the natural settings that inspired them. I want to capture the grid of terrain as well as the life-sustaining breath of coastal water systems. My paintings are as much about chance and process as they are about the conscious motivation that brought them into being.