Painting Portfolio

My portfolio showcases various series of paintings created throughout my career. My work tends to investigate our relationship with the natural world, with its creatures, with each other, and with ourselves. I make social commentary with a sprinkling of humor, a titch of nonsense, a dash of self-deprecation, and a pinch of bird droppings. See my contact information below and get in touch if you have any questions or if you’re interested in purchasing a painting or commissioning one.


Human/Nature

Artist’s Statement: The Human/Nature series began as a mashup of animal and human behavior, an exploration of mate seeking and the power of pheromones, visual cues, adornment, competition, attraction, and ritual. It was meant to be a romp into the clunky, awkward strangeness that occurs when humans and their animal kin hunt for a mate. However, as I delved deeper into the paintings and their meaning, I realized that what began as a playful exploration became a complex, confusing and emotional journey that I didn’t expect. Yes, humans are mammals and we behave in ways that mimic our wild kin, but human sexuality is far more complicated and evolves as our lives change and as we age. In addition, the “Me Too” movement revealed how many of us have been victimized by sexual violence. I am struck by the fact that humans are supposed to be of a higher consciousness than our animal kin but yet we sometimes don’t behave that way. 

In this series, there are four very large, sensual women; I gave them complete control over their own bodies and sexuality by making their canvases much larger than the others. Their titles give them absolute authority to select with whom they share themselves. 

The smaller canvases contain a mixture of activities and human/animal traits: intra-sexual selection where males compete with each other and put on elaborate displays for females, and inter-sexual selection where females choose their mate. There are also canvases representing those who are past the stage of attracting and selecting a mate and are focused on other things instead.

So while this series is humorous on the surface, the topic, of human sexuality, is a complex and sometimes emotionally loaded subject.


Tame your Marmots

Artist’s Statement: The Tame your Marmots series is a continuation of the earlier series, Exposing the Sneaky Marmot, where I explored the many versions of self-deception as witnessed through the behavior of the individual. In this new series, I continue to visit self-deception but also explore group deception, which is self-deception on steroids, amplified by the echo chambers in which we choose to participate.


We Want Our View and Eat It Too

Artist’s statement: We Want Our View and Eat It Too explores how we as tourists interact with the natural world, especially when visiting National Parks and other beautiful places. These paintings investigate our relationship with the natural landscape, with it’s wild creatures, and with preserved historical places while questioning our ideas concerning fair use and conservation.


Domesticates

Artist’s statement: Domesticates explores the influence of relationships, especially the close, domestic bonds of family and friends where the colors and patterns of our daily existence imprint themselves onto us, forming the person we become, the roles we play, and how we view the world.


Exposing the Sneaky Marmot

Artist’s statement: Sometimes the beliefs we hold about the world or about ourselves don’t serve us well. False or misleading perceptions can, at best, lead us into harmless folly, or at worst, cause others and ourselves a lifetime of misery and heartache. 

Exposing the Sneaky Marmot investigates many versions of self-deception. The presence of a trickster marmot throughout the series embodies the tendency to be misled by our perceptions and beliefs. These mindsets are formed in childhood and carried into adulthood where they often function below our conscious awareness. 

I reference old photographs to allude to the temporal persistence of long-lasting familial mindsets and use the landscape as a setting to represent the wild terrain of our subconscious mind. These paintings are twisted versions of grown-up dramas that are humorous on the surface but sometimes dark and insidious underneath with far-reaching consequences.


Contact me to purchase a painting or talk about a commission.