Ramble

For my show, titled “Ramble”, my paintings investigate particular places outdoors that I have experienced the past two years in Oregon. The diverse climates, and the specific plants, lichens, rocks and fungus are the subjects of my paintings. A new project I am working on is a mobile plein air setup on my bicycle, where I ride to landscapes, setup, camp and spend dusk until dawn painting outside. I am combining that with larger paintings, done within my studio, building up many layers and experimenting with oil paint. The work flows from realism to mysticism, as I play with the medium of oil paint and incorporate studio time with observation outside. The show reflects my exploration and bewilderment of the wild beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Working loosely within the genre of landscape painting, I explore my relationship with the natural world. I strive to create an artistic process that necessitates spending time outside, something vital to my general wellbeing. Starting from my experiences outside, my observations playfully interact with experimentation and the formal act of painting. I am interested in making a painting that becomes an image of the process of its creation; exploring tension between illusionistic realism, gesture and the materiality of paint. I aim to make paintings with a visual impact that relates to the chaos and balance that is omnipresent in the dense layered flora of the Northwest landscape.