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Sit quietly and imagine you're in a kayak. The wind is howling. You pull hard right with your paddle and quickly beach the kayak. The smell of campfire beckons. The flames crackle. The sun closes the day. You pull a wool blanket around you.
That's where I am when I am creating my art.

Painting, for me, is the "poetry" of such experiences.
I express this in colour and shapes rather than in words. I am inspired by nature. My abstracted works could reflect the colours in my garden, the vast horizon on the bay where I cross country ski or the ever changing skies as I paddle. Painting connects me to nature, to people and to myself. This outside/inside creating process is and has been an incredible lifelong adventure.

“Stay firmly in your path and dare. Be wild two hours a day!” - Paul Gauguin


MY PROCESS
With music playing, I intuitively brush colourful shapes. I splatter, wipe, collage and paint with freedom and joy. I paint quickly at first. It's my favourite time. It's fun. It's messy. Sometimes I dance! Sometimes I curse! It's both physical and experimental. Slowly, I start to edit and the shapes and colours start to take on a life of their own. This process is much more challenging. It requires critical thinking and decision making. I must have the courage to risk covering what is good in order to make the painting sing. I go for it!

​I've spent years sketching and abstracting landscapes. Increasingly there is a stronger abstract element in my work which I embrace. For me, abstraction is an authentic creative form of self expression. It allows me to create paintings that connect me to nature, to myself - and hopefully to you.

Sketching from my kayak