Artist Statement

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia. My family moved to Florida when I was three. As a young child, I was mesmerized by the dark blue-purple storm clouds that formed in the afternoons as a result of Florida’s heat, humidity and sunshine. I remember hearing the wind whistle through the jalousie windows during the many tropical storms that skirted the coast. I can still see the small palm trees in our yard twist and thrash in the wind, taking on torpedo-like shapes. These images and memories have stayed with me to this day and have shaped my work.

I have always been very interested in nature and natural forces, especially tornadoes. They first appeared in my work in a landscape that I painted in 1991, and I continued to use the tornado image after I started working with encaustic in 2000. I find the ethereal and sensuous forms of tornadoes to be beautiful, and working with encaustic has allowed me to create some incredible atmospheric effects. The tornado inspired imagery has been a good jumping off point that has allowed me to experiment with drawing with charcoal on the wax surface of the painting.

Recently, I have returned to the theme of architecture, an interest of mine since graduate school. With the encaustic medium I can create layers of paint that record the history of all the marks that have been made on the surface.