Location: United States
My oil and mixed media pastel and gouache paintings are stylized images that tell my passion for nature and the environment and depict my concern for the threats of climate change. I show how native fauna and flora interact and survive in adverse surroundings. When Mother Nature challenges us with extreme weather patterns, she reminds us that the beauty of our environment is at stake. Birds tell our story of survival, love, danger, strength, and vulnerability. With Covid-19, my message has become more exacerbated, and the need to narrate has become visceral. I paint visual stories of a world on the edge:
The story of the danger of the denial of climate change.
The story of Nature’s resilience and beauty even after the abuse we have been inflicting upon her.
The story of Nature ‘s anger challenging us with extreme weather patterns: fires, earthquakes, floods, winter storms, hurricanes and more.
The story of our home, torn by conflict and mistrust.
The story of the fear of the other, the foe who is different and who will deconstruct you.
The story of a new normal.
I paint stylized representational images from which exude an allegorical quality. I want my work to be confrontational and emotionally charged. I aim at engaging the viewer with surprise, doubt and curiosity and raising many conversations in these challenging times.
I want them to be poignant and confrontational and raise the question of our global situation in these disturbing times.
I paint poetry.
My oil and mixed media pastel and gouache paintings are stylized representational images from which exude an allegorical quality. They depict a state of mind in which the boundaries between dream and reality have become very fluid.
Oil on canvas, 24"30"
Seagull in disarray trapped in fire. A memory of the 2017 Northern California fires and a comment on global warming
Oil on canvas, 20"x24"
Crow watching destruction caused by human beings. A comment on war and global warming
Oil on canvas, 30"x24"
Monarch butterflies caught in fire. A memory of the Northern California fires and a comment on global warming, immigration, and the situation of the Dreamers
oil on canvas, 36"x24"
Crow trapped in fire
A memory of the 2017 Northern California fires and a comment on global warming
oil on canvas, 30"x24"
American Eagle drowning, a comment on the vulnerability of democracy, birds don't fly in water, a comment on global warming
My mixed media work of gouache and pastel on paper is loose. The process involves a slow addition of layers starting with gouache, and then going in with pastel, alternating back and forth with the two media. The application of paint and pastel is controlled but also gestural. I splatter with fan brushes, tooth brushes and scrape with a palette knife. As in my oil work, I seek depth and richness.
“The Sky cries in my lonely Heart”
A bird standing alone in the rain and in the cold.
I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. iI don't know where it goes, but it is home and I stand alone.
Pastel and gouache painting on paper. The portrait of a woman wrapped in butterfly wings.
Pastel and gouache painting on watercolor paper, 19"x15"
A couple of crows struggling together for survival in a snow storm. A comment on global warming.
“Im-Migration Series: Self Portrait of an Immigrant”
Pastel and gouache painting on watercolor paper, 15"x19.5"
Self portrait as a monarch butterfly. A comment on immigration and the Dreamers.
Pastel and gouache painting on paper, 18"x15"
Small finch rapped in fire. A memory of the 2017 Northern California fires, a comment on global warming
“Fear”
“The witness”
“Dead End”
“No Way Out”
“Flying in Water”
“Poetry of Renewal”
“Of Love and Survival 1”
“Vulnerable”
