Each and every lifeform has a history of lives behind it as well as a succession of lifeforms to come. I like to believe that I catch the movements between these different iterations of living things.
My practice began in childhood as a Waldorf student--pushing reds into yellows, pulling violet into green, using all of my body to move the brush. We didn't paint 'things'. Our goal was nothing more than process and exploration.
If I begin by looking at an object, I typically paint only part of it. The rest of the thing is implied in the space around it. As I work with layers and erasure, sometimes only a single hard edge is left of something concrete that once sat upon the canvas. I like impressions of density and weight--the way emptiness is charged by something that has just left the room.
Each phase of my printing seems to be characterized by a certain type of shape or line. I make a habit of looking to leaves, tendrils, vines and stems on my walks in the neighborhood. Along with hand cut stencils, I often use these natural materials when composing my plates before running them through the press. Once I have a body of printed work derived from a common set of lines, shapes and colors, I then paint or draw, adding dimension. My work at this stage is less impulsive and more deliberate, as the printed forms draw me out and indicate direction.
Lastly, I keep after myself to know when it's time to get out of the way, before the lines are no longer innocent....
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