Artist’s Statement
Every painting I do emerges from a meditative state. The process of making a painting allows me to leave the world behind and immerse myself in the ongoing moment of creation. My love of nature inspires my landscapes and living on the coast, where the sea meets the land, lets me indulge my fascination with water.
The technique of watercolor is well suited to my desire to bring forth a sense of well-being and calmness through my work. I love the purity, spontaneity, and challenge of getting a painting right the first time, without reworking or meddling.
In my paintings, there are only a few elements – light, water, pigment – which then are animated and transformed by the white of the paper.
The color of white is a paradox. How can white be a color? The laws of physics teach us that white light is composed of the visual spectrum of red, green and blue light waves. The white of the paper provides the ground – the solidity – of every painting, and at the same time, the foundation for the translucency that makes the medium so ephemeral. Another paradox. Through the white of the paper, the colors hidden in the everyday world emerge to wake up our eyes, so we can be delighted and amazed.
Every painting I do is a step towards a deeper understanding, and appreciation, of our world.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my teachers, Christy Gallagher, David Dewey (who must be credited for his phrase “the color of white”), and John Adams for their support and encouragement. All are amazingly talented painters, but also have the rare added ability to inspire their students with their knowledge and skills.
PS: For my day job, I’m a print and web designer and have my own company called Oxygen Design. You can check out my work at www.oxygendesign.net.