I have lived all but a few years of my life in rural settings surrounded by acres of pasture and woodlands.  This experience of living amidst large expanses of open space has shaped my vision and instilled in me a need to travel to places where the landscape has long been shaped by builders.

My travels have informed my sense of space and my knowledge of the western heritage of the built environment.  My paintings combine observed local landscape with the photographed and remembered landscape of my travels. Renaissance or pagan structures appear in these landscapes, as do structures from my home setting.  

My images are set in quiet, carefully staged places.  The activity in these staged settings sometimes draws on traditional religious themes, like the Annunciation or Resurrection, and from personal and political concerns.

Since the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, my focus has shifted to an even more acute awareness of the delicate balancing act of life and to the ideas of refuge, security, and intimidation.  In the Homeland Securtiy Series I appropriated images of oil well fires and exploding incendiary devices from the Internet.  I am somewhat comforted by the fact that the serene early Renaissance images I so admire were created in a time of great political uncertainty.

The traditiion of still life painting, particularly the theme of the vanitas from the Dutch seventeenth century in which depicted objects symbolized the vanity of life's pursuits in light of the certainty of death also influences my most recent series of still life paintings.