These are my more contemporary-feeling pieces, fusing 2D and 3D art in one work. Here I explore the juxtaposition of the ancient and modern, humans and the natural world, animals and the ancient stones.
There's a bit of mystery here - who were these people or animals depicted, and what happened to them - and perhaps a little flicker of awareness of the impermanence of things. There is often a thread in each painting that ties those people from the deep past to us today. Can you find it?
Each one of the cultures are real...so too are the artifacts, symbols, or sites I depict. I start with a flash of inspiration - ideas for these paintings usually pop into my mind at the oddest of times, often while cycling or hiking on a mountain path. Using that initial creative flash I sketch out the idea and do a little bit of research to make sure all of the elements add up and make sense together. The research process is almost as enjoyable as putting paint to board.
I've also designed each painting to be touched - the surfaces are subtly three-dimensional and textured, often with semi-precious stones or reproduction artifacts. I want to provide you with an experience for the hands as well as the eyes.
 "Offerings" Oil on textured panel; 16"x16" Canyon Wren with Native American artifacts  "Spirits of Chaco" Oil on textured panel; 30"x20"; Prairie Falcon on Pueblo Bonito wall, with Ancient Pueblo effigy pottery and Macaw symbolism  "Canyon Song" oil on textured panel; 24"x24"; canyon wren and Utah pictographs  "Echos" Oil on textured panel; 24"x24"; plateau striped whiptail lizard and Archaic pictographs from Buckhorn Wash, UT  "Cliff Dwelling I" (diptych) Oil on textured Panel; 20"x30"; Cliff Swallow with Archaic pictographs |  "Dreams of Flight" Oil on Panel with texture and turquoise; 30"x20"; Kestrel and Archaic pictographs from Buckhorn Wash, UT  "In the Shadow of a Giant" Oil on textured panel; 12"x12"; Costa's Hummingbird with pictograph of California Condor  "Discovery" Oil on textured panel; 24"x36"; Red fox with ancient pictographs from New Mexico, US.  "Cliff Dwelling II" (diptych) Oil on textured Panel; 20"x30"; Cliff Swallow with Archaic pictographs |  "Stories of Her Ancestors" Oil on Panel with texture; 24"x36"; Native American figure with Barrier Canyon Style pictographs.  "Visitor from the Forest" Oil on textured panel; 30"x24"; Northern Goshawk with Elder Futhark runes ("the Visitor from the Forest...I, Falcon[hawk]...which the great gods made...protect")  "Thought and Memory" Oil on textured panel; 20"x24"; The Runic inscription is an adaptation from "The Wisdom of Odin" ("He is truly wise who has traveled far and knows the ways of the world...")  "Between a Rock and a Hard Place II" Oil on panel with found objects; 12"x16"; Depicting a Pika on Colorado's Mt. Evans  "Excavations" Oil on panel with found objects; 18"x24"; Prairie Dog Sometimes these little guys seem like four-legged archaeologists. You never know what they'll turn up in their excavations. |