Glacier Series 2017

Over a four day period in August 2017 I made 72 sketches on my iPad describing my sense of the form of Glacier Park. I spent my time drawing at Lake McDonald, Logan Pass, St Mary’s Lake and Many Glacier. Each drawing describes the forms, rhythms and color that connected me to the broader landscape of the park. Hikes through the park brought me closer to the detail that made up the overall experience.  I extensively photographed the park at a distance and up close to create a more accurate memory picture.

The paintings were started immediately after returning to the studio. Although the sketches represent a simple view of a very complex place, they do however frame the complexity of what I experienced. The photographs are used as a reference to the range and order of colors that describe the complex relationships of form and light.

In the collage paintings there is no attempt to express an actual picture or sketch. The goal is not to make a picture but to make an expression of experience. To see the clarity of the image as if seeing the world for the first time. Not to create a formal composition but to act with material I am working with in same way as I observe through seeing and feeling. The painting process is to allow all that is within me to participate in the experience of assembly of each painting.