Nothing is more abstract than reality.
Giorgio Morandi 1890 – 1964

 

My work reflects a sense of place, the worlds I live in  New York City and the coast of Maine. In these distinct environments, I’m equally moved by weather, light, and atmosphere, and their effect on forms both natural and manmade.

The poetry and beauty I encounter in the urban landscape, otherwise littered with the debris of humankind, is as transformative as the subtleties and spectacle of nature that surround me in Maine. Studying at Pratt in the late seventies, I “grew up” as an abstract painter but slowly gravitated to landscape, using nature as a vocabulary. A challenge at first, living in the city, but then I began spending time on the water, sometimes working with my husband on his tug in New York harbor. I was astounded to discover how nature intrudes itself in even the most gritty, inhospitable, industrial landscapes.

The natural beauty in Maine, by comparison, is so spectacular that the challenge here is to find a very personal way to distill and record this experience. In my work, I attempt to present the nuances of nature and thought, to tread that fragile edge between description and invention.

I’ve spent years on a variety of boats which adds up to hours of being transfixed by the effects of movement and light on the sea. My most recent work has been inspired by a more quiet observation — viewing the edges, the reflections. Edges becoming so blurred reality dissolves into abstraction.