Artist’s Statement

The associations we make to objects observed and the light falling on them are my focus in this body of, a series titled Night Life. Pattern carries with it a sense of ritual and assist me to draw out memories from a time and a place and a relationship to somewhere or someone. And in my still life work I have been looking at the negative spaces as intently as the positive spaces in the room. The darks become an interesting theatrical part of the composition.

With the guidance of poet Mark Doty’s pensive insights into living with objects, I painted my experience of home in the quiet of the night. He writes, ‘ if we look and look we will be surprised and we will be rewarded at the capacity of the object to carry meaning… Suppose I were to make a still life of my grandmother’s peppermints, those remembered little tokens drawn from infinity’s dark sack and offered, again and again to me…’. (Still Life With Oysters and Lemon p. 48).

I have spontaneously arranged objects based on their aesthetic beauty to me in the moment and the way they attract light. The objects may grow meaning as I paint them.