In recent work I have been interested in exploring the specific meaning and history of still life objects as emblematic signs. Yearly trips to Italy and Spain have been very inspirational. I’ve spent time in Italy collecting and studying emblematic images and found an abundance of rich visual information.

The interesting thing to me about still life is the long history of objects as symbols and how in the still life tradition many interpretations have remained for a thousand years and more. In the present time we are allowed a multitude of interpretations. It makes the paintings richer, and I think, more universal than figure and portrait painting, and with perhaps a larger vocabulary than landscape. There is an endless cast of characters and possible arrangements. 

Fruit embodies the sweetness of life. Plums and pomegranates are juicy and sexy. Apples and pears have a long history; in Greek and Roman poetry a gift of apples is a declaration of love, they also signify loss or temptation. Pears signify redemption.

Birds represent the spirit in many cultures. Shamans become birds to be transported to other realms. Sometimes they are the guardians, the watchers, sometimes the tricksters like the crow, but often they are our stand-ins who participate in the action in the painting.

The cup or bowl might be an offering, hospitality to friends, the cup of kindness, the grail. 

In recent years I find that my painting is strongly influenced by the time of year, the strange mystery of early winter, the month of September where the natural world pauses and is quiet and beautiful, the busy bright world of mid summer.

These moments are part of the subject of my paintings, my investigations of what is truly worthwhile in life. My main effort is to hold on to those sweet moments that are somehow both transitory and eternal through light and color and also subject matter: books, botanicals, a bowl of fruit, boxes and packages that represent a yet undiscovered gift, birds, beetles and lizards that signify living nature and make still life less still, distant vistas and vast skies at dusk that offer hope or threat from the gods.

I love mixed media work because I can be more playful and inventive in building the image with a variety of materials. Putting actual objects together with painted or printed imagery emphasizes the play between illusion and reality. 

I have lived in Rome for three months at a time nearly every year for the last seven years. The architecture and landscape was captivating and most of all, for me, the food culture that is such a charming part of the place. As a still life painter my interest was captured by the bakery windows, the grocery store shelves, the outdoor markets. To me, a jar of anchovies or olives, or a small perfectly sculptured cake contained an essence of Italian culture.

In some years I determined that I would include a souvenir of my travels to a museum or a monument along with the usual still life objects. Viewers may recognize a Piero postcard or a tiny Colosseum. These works are small scale.

Ideal workspace which opens on to the garden.