Stray marks on a sidewalk, the indistinct edges of a photograph, what the eye recalls of a landscape after a quick glance. These are some of the visual sources for my paintings. For me, incidental details and peripherally viewed objects can capture our attention, begging us to find hidden meanings or sudden revelations. I paint with oil on wood panels that I have cut into jigsaw-puzzle type pieces. The images on the panels are arranged collage-like, partial images converging often on diagonal planes to create puzzles within the puzzle piece so the paintings function as enigmas. Bits of landscape are juxtaposed with partial views of objects and figures.
After working all my life in visual art, performance, and education, I became fascinated with abandoning the rectangle as the ground for image making. I have been making this body of work for over ten years and still have lots of visual ideas for the cut wood panels. I often start thinking about a color scheme that intrigues me and then I look through my body of photos and random images I’ve collected. Lately I’ve been printing out the photos, tearing and taping them into a collage I can use for image sources. I plan the areas of the painting so that areas recede and pop forward, and, initially, lay down underpainting. Although, the painting is planned out, often the paint itself creates welcome surprises that I include and build on.