Biography

The beauty of mixed media art is the flexibility it offers to start with things around you and expand from there. As a mixed media painter, I juxtapose these visual elements into a language of moods and reactions that allow for the viewer’s own interpretations. The paintings starts with hand cut museum board blocks that are painted, embellished, scratched and merged together to form what I term “mixed media quilt paintings”. My goal is not to pre-plan the end results, rather to let the feelings and emotions of the overall design dictate how each block fit together. I allow the colors, patterns and textures to direct the composition. Mediums may include acrylics, pastel, graphite, texture crackle, watercolor or clay paint. I incorporate beads, rope, paper, grommets, fabric, hot glue and various other objects while constructing the blocks. Some replicas of vintage newspaper advertisements, articles, messages and photographs occasionally accentuate the compositions while adding a symbolic richness to the paintings. The meaning of the attached elements often becomes clearer to me as they are assembled. The result is a continual search for balance between spontaneity and historical relevance. Because of the multi-layering it is my expectation that the creation becomes a thoughtful, spiritual, interesting, sensitive and ongoing experience for the viewer.