“My most recent artwork is process-oriented. It begins with the assembly of items of interest–things which attract me from an aesthetic viewpoint or things which catch my fancy or make me smile. These items generally fall into a few categories: 1) dried plant materials, such as dried flower petals, bark from trees, leaves, etc. 2) tissue paper (I love the transparency!) and other random scraps of paper like the tags from clothing, identification cards of strangers, old photos, doilies, etc. and 3) sand and dirt from sacred sites around the world. The sand and dirt not only add texture, but I hope they will carry with them some of the healing properties found at the holy sites.
After all the relevant materials have been collected, they are collaged onto a hardwood ground. Handmade walnut ink, gold leaf, oil and acrylic paints and inks are then applied to create an abstract work with a pleasing compositional and color balance. The work is then sat aside in a visible portion of my studio. I look at the work intently, day after day, until an image appears.
Once the image has appeared in my mind, its manifestation in paint and ink is usually a very rapid and intuitive process.
My recent work is made entirely from the imagination using my PEMA© technique. I developed the PEMA© technique in response to my interest in the writings of Jung, most specifically his ideas about symbols and their relationship to the subconscious mind and the collective.”
