mixed media collage acrylic contemporary abstract painting blue

My work is fueled by two quite different obsessions:
First and foremost is the drive to represent a singular kind of image; organic forms floating in space. This need has been with me since I began creating artwork, unwittingly at first and quite knowingly now, I base my work on these shapes. They come with me no matter where I go; oils, pastels, acrylics; drawing or painting. . I believe they are born from a visual language, or memory, that is part of a collective subconscious.
Second is my love of collage and the combining of various objects, surfaces, textures and text. I find inspiration not only in the beauty and mystery of a single found-object but by the magic created when it is richly layered with the grace of the written word and other objects.

Currently, I combine collage and my organic forms onto a single surface. Most recently it is a split surface which, to me, represents the many aspects of dualism; mind/body, perception and reality, the inner and outer self, light and dark, life as we know it and “the other side”.

I work intuitively, combining media, building layers and using personal symbolism and imagery to evoke a feeling, story or scenario and to create the connections between the two aspects of my work, much like we make those connections in life.

"When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your fugitive presence, inevitably you think of your art, whatever that may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgement of the gift you have been given, which is life itself....That work is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitude for the gift of life." - Stanley Kunitz