In my most recent abstract paintings I am trying to bring together elements that have previously remained distinct in my work. The large vertical forms of the "Still Life" series have increasingly broken down and dissolved into fields of color and gesture. These paintings attempt to incorporate the openness to incident and form of my observational paintings while enjoying the freedom of layering and revising that studio work makes possible. These new works challenge landscape painting's traditional space and orientation, exploring more purely emotional and visual spaces.
First Still Life Series (1998-2000): I began these after a long period of landscape painting that had become problematic for me. I had in mind a series of semi-abstract still lives (I am a great admirer of the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi). I wanted them, like his marvelous works, to balance between the object and the figure. As I progressed I found that each painting evoked quite specific emotional and psychological associations, mostly having to do with the comedies and dramas of family life.
Second Series (2002-2004), The Elegies: These paintings are a continuation and development of the earlier series. They are less anecdotal in feeling—more solemn and monumental and there is a certain reserve and retrospection to them that led me to call them the Elegies.
Most recently, I have begun to bring the still life and landscape forms together in the same painting.