Every day I find inspiration on walks around my yard, my neighborhood in Glen Allen, Virginia, the city of Richmond and its many parks and gardens, and wherever we roam. I still sketch as I walk around, but I also take thousands of photographs and pore over them later. In this way I can relive those moments when my inspirations come faster than my pencil or brush can move.
I revel in getting messy and experiencing the physical ingredients of art. I am spellbound by the puddles of watercolor with pigment intensifying where the water evaporates, the brush smearing through layers of viscous oil paint, and the feeling of muddy clay on my hands. Just as my front garden can look different in every light, every moment of the day, and every opening of a new flower bud, I find that same wonder in the changing of a piece of art as I stare at it and focus on first one view and then another. Somehow art and our everyday lives have become disconnected from one another. I believe that bringing art back into our daily experiences can reconnect us to the beauty in nature and ourselves.
I feel an intense connection to the remaining wilderness we all share because so much has disappeared. Gardening introduces a human influence on wilderness, but helps us to gain a greater appreciation and respect for nature. My art serves as a record of my experience of the world. When I make art I go from looking at something to truly seeing it for the first time. There is beauty around us every day if we take the time to notice it. I hope that is what my pottery reminds people to do.
I revel in getting messy and experiencing the physical ingredients of art. I am spellbound by the puddles of watercolor with pigment intensifying where the water evaporates, the brush smearing through layers of viscous oil paint, and the feeling of muddy clay on my hands. Just as my front garden can look different in every light, every moment of the day, and every opening of a new flower bud, I find that same wonder in the changing of a piece of art as I stare at it and focus on first one view and then another. Somehow art and our everyday lives have become disconnected from one another. I believe that bringing art back into our daily experiences can reconnect us to the beauty in nature and ourselves.
I feel an intense connection to the remaining wilderness we all share because so much has disappeared. Gardening introduces a human influence on wilderness, but helps us to gain a greater appreciation and respect for nature. My art serves as a record of my experience of the world. When I make art I go from looking at something to truly seeing it for the first time. There is beauty around us every day if we take the time to notice it. I hope that is what my pottery reminds people to do.
Sometimes you will find me outside the studio working right in nature. |
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