Artist Statement

I seek to create a meditative field that brings to the viewer a sense of peace and completion. I begin by drawing a grid of half inch squares in light pencil all over the canvas or sheet of paper. I then proceed to fill in each square one at a time. In the paintings there are many many layers that need to dry in between as I work in oil paint to create the depth and variation I like, and the texture. I pay attention to each and every square, in a very ritualistic manner. The drawings are worked in similar fashion making up patterns along the way. These are deliberately titled after the names of the pencils used in tribute to the  Anonymous artists and artisans whose work is labor intensive and frequently under horrific working conditions. This series I think of as “Pencil Tapestries”

I like the quiet while I work, addressing each and every square. I liken this process to my daily tai chi practice. The form is set and my task is to simply pay attention and mindfully go through the slow moving dance, learn from and absorb the form, embrace the ƒchiƒ created, and finally, let it go, without attachment.

Increasingly my paintings in particular have become, “Prayers For Peace”, for there is no other way, being mindful with each step and with each breath.  “Let us take care of the Elders for they have come a long way, let us take care of the Children for they have a long way to go, let us take care of those In Between, for it is they who do the work”, an African Prayer.