Statement

2010 Artist Statement

My world has always been about people and places.  As a geographer, I have traveled extensively, and I have always enjoyed teaching my students about other people and places.  It is not surprising that the same theme runs through my art. I try to capture the essence of a place through the built environment or the people within it.

I am interested in shapes and colors.  I enjoy simplifying forms into flat, two-dimensional spaces that have interesting arrangements whether they involve people or the man-made environment.  I am attracted to geometric rather than naturalistic form.  I am also very responsive to color which I use to convey my emotional response to the subject.

Most of my work is in watercolor, although I sometimes use oils and acrylics.  I enjoy the other mediums but most of all I like the velvety, flat, intense color I can achieve in watercolor. Transparent watercolor yields the most exciting colors but mostly I am using or mixing opaque watercolors to keep color flat. In this way the designed shapes stand out and give the painting its clarity of purpose.

The last few years have been good for my painting because I have now retired from the university and spent a lot more time at my easel.  I am now a signature member of New England Watercolor Society and am represented by McGowan Fine Art Gallery in Concord N.H.

One of my paintings was featured in an article by Skip Lawrence entitled “Viva la Difference” in Issue 16, January 06 of the Palette Magazine, an artists magazine published by Skip Lawrence and Christopher Schink.  In Issue 24 there was a two page description of my paintings and my graphic style and also this year in Issue 26 another article describing my painting process.

Three of my paintings are now installed in the Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford, Maine.