Narrative

In August 2005, we were visiting the ocean in north Florida when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. As the horrific circumstances played out on the news, I found myself focusing on what people were taking with them. They carried their children, their grandparents, televisions, and green trash bags heavy with possessions. I wondered exactly what is in those bags? What is important enough? Is it worth the risk of being weighed down in the muddy waters? How strong are each of these people?

Then in June 2013, we had to evacuate our then Colorado home during the explosive Waldo Canyon Fire. After packing our important papers, I got to decide what mattered most to me. Instead of loading a green trash bag, I had a car to fill.

As an outgrowth of these experiences, I started making what I call 'narrative' paintings. I begin by asking dear friends to choose objects of value to them and to share nothing about their symbolism with me. I keep the objects for some months. Each set presents new formal and technical challenges in still life painting. As I work I tend to craft a story about the objects, formed out of my best guess at their meanings. Once complete, I gift the painting to my friend and return their objects. In exchange, they share the real significance of the objects behind the work. The great discovery of learning the true narrative of the painting becomes their gift to me. I am now interested in doing these works as commissions.

See my landscape work. ⟶

Sarah | 2022 | 18 x 18” | Oil on wood panel | [NFS]

Mary | 2019 | 20 x 24” | Oil on wood panel | [NFS]

Elizabeth | 2020 | 20 x 27 1/2" | Oil on wood panel | [NFS]

Caitlin | 2018 | 24 x 30” | Oil on canvas | [NFS]

Dina | 2021 | 16 x 21 3/4" | Oil on canvas | [NFS]

Wendy Ann | 2024 | 12 X 16" | Oil on Canvas | [NFS]