Artist Statement

As a child growing up in a small midwestern town, I would picnic with my family every Sunday in the summer beneath a large oak tree. I loved climbing the tree and dreamed of living in a treehouse at the top of the tree. My fantasies became my paintings in which I portray the intimate connections we have with nature, the ones we feel when we get up close, the ones we physically take in when we walk, climb and simply breathe in nature’s bounty. This is why I paint my subjects as portraits.

I carefully select each of my portrait subjects for their cultural, historic or environmentally threatened status. Through close-up, realistic representation, I invite viewers to look for a long time at an individual - a single tree, a square of soil - contemplate the magnificence of its form, the beauty of its shapes, textures, colors and patterns, and psychologically crawl into the work, feeling the closeness and intimacy of a habitat, and the power of what it has given us and what we have taken away.