Themes: A Guide to the Paintings
My paintings grow from a long-standing interest in clarity, balance, and quiet presence. Though each work begins with direct observation—of pottery, branches, fields, horizons, or the silhouettes of animals—the paintings evolve into explorations of form and atmosphere rather than literal description.
Across four themes—Still Life, Landscape, Animals, and Compositions—I return to subjects that hold meaning for me. Some are familiar and grounded; others verge toward abstraction. All reflect a desire to express simplicity through touch, gesture, and restraint, and to create images that carry both immediacy and depth. These themes are not boundaries but pathways—different ways of entering the same ongoing search for harmony, light, and the quiet rhythms of the natural world.
Still Life
In my still life paintings, I’m drawn to qualities of simplicity and quietude. I find a serene elegance in the idea of the void—a space where depth and presence can be felt rather than described.
These works center on vessels, sometimes isolated and grounded, sometimes paired with branches or stems that balance delicately within the space of the canvas. Positive and negative space play equal roles.
I often think of these old, undecorated pots as possessing their own personalities. A single vessel can become a metaphor—openness, containment, emptiness, or fullness—much like a portrait. The weight of the vessel and the reach of the branch create a soft tension, infusing the stillness with quiet movement.
Painted on linen or cotton canvas in a restrained palette of warm grays and earth tones, the compositions seek harmony through understatement.
Landscape
These new landscapes draw inspiration from the fields, hills, and changing weather around my home in Woodstock, Vermont. They are not literal depictions but quiet reflections on atmosphere—moments when light, weather, and distance become the subject.
Through layered oil and textured surfaces, I explore the balance between permanence and change. The horizon, often the brightest point linking land and sky, holds particular fascination for me—a meeting place of clarity, mystery, and shifting light.
Animals
These recent paintings explore the quiet poetry of birds—their moments of flight and repose, and the balance between movement and stillness. Rooted in observation yet shaped by memory, the forms shift between representation and abstraction, emerging through gesture, layering, and erasure.
Through the tactile language of oil paint and pastel, I aim to capture presence rather than likeness. Each surface carries traces of time and touch. These birds—at once real and imagined—inhabit an atmosphere where stillness and motion coexist, offering a meditation on nature’s quiet rhythm.
Compositions
In these more abstract works, I revisit the still life as a place for invention. Everyday objects—bowls, vessels, glasses, bottles—become simplified shapes arranged on a flattened picture plane. Treated as symbols rather than depictions, they allow me to explore the balance of positive and negative space.
Working with brush and oil stick, I draw into and across the paint, scratching or redefining lines as new relationships appear. The process invites chance and revision, merging my background in design with the expressive possibilities of painting. Through this approach, I seek to renew the still life with clarity, quiet energy, and a modern sensibility.
This page offers an overview of the themes that shape my painting practice—still life, landscape, animals, and compositions. Each reflects my ongoing search for clarity, balance, and quiet presence in the painted image.