These are works completed after graduating from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1981. I studied shape like this until 1989, when I began a teaching stint in North Carolina and became inspired by flying. In most instances, dates are from January 1982, at which point we had moved into a 3 bedroom upstairs apartment in Utica NY (1708 Oneida Street, I believe) where the back bedroom was used as a studio. At this point, I was playing with shapes, trying to create fully three-dimensional abstract shapes that reflected the landscape of Vermont and upstate New York. These works became progressively more complex as time went on, adding more details of texture and line that were drawn more from an energetic memory of the view than specific trees or objects per se.
My work has always been derived from my sensations of the landscape. How can I create a beautiful and nourishing landscape, from which we derive hope, solace and inspiration, in a uniquely personal style? Sometimes the shapes resemble a combination of human and landscape characteristics. How does man combine with nature and yet draw spiritual sustaining power from that which surrounds him? I think of these works as “essential landscapes” that convey the essence of a place in time. The problem with this is that they may appeal best to those who have been to that place, and since my own locations are eccentric, it is hard to find those who might appreciate the same odd experiences: from Cornwall, England to flying over the Oxbow in Northampton, MA to golf at particular courses to martial arts on Devil’s Island in Temagami, Ontario.
I remember one moment in graduate school, while painting a large blue mountain on an orange background, I think, and I suddenly had the inspiration to continue the orange background down and around the lower, front part of the form, thus isolating the mountain (of which there were not many in Detroit) and making it a more powerful, unitary statement. The final two paintings in this rough, early style were the first that received positive response at Cranbrook, and they were hung in the final graduate show.
The rest of my work has been derived from this sense of shape in combination with light, color and texture in the landscape, reflecting my experiences at the moment.
I have many more of these works; there just isn’t room to do them justice on this page. Write me for an inventory if you are interested.
Special Fall Colors September 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 30” X 32 ¼” $550 unframed.
Summit Woods, Mt. Equinox September 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 30” x 42” Stonehenge paper $600 unframed.
Mountains Changing Colors September 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 30” x 41 1/2” Stonehenge paper $550 unframed.
Winter Shape, Winter Light February 1983 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 19 1/2” x 18″ $400 unframed.
Woods Rock with Sun, 1982, pastel and pencil on Stonehenge paper 26 ½” x 25” $500 unframed.
Mother and Child June 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 29” x 30” $550; $1700 if framed.
Moss Covered Stump and Woods Rock, August 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 27 1/2 x 26 1/2” Rives paper; $550 unframed.
Mountains Changing Colors September 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 30” x 41 1/2” Stonehenge paper $550 unframed.
Fall Transition September 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 30” x 30 ½” $550 unframed.
Early Mid-Summer Evening July 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 17 ½ x 17 ” $400 unframed.
Fall Roadside, Overgrown October 1982 pastel and pencil on Rives paper 27” x 26 ¼” $550 unframed.
Early Evening Abstraction August 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 25” x 25” $550 unframed.
Cozy, Two as One June 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 32 ½” x 32” $550 unframed.
Fall Peak from Snowy Mountain October 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 30” x 30.5″ $550 unframed.
Changing Times, Late Fall November 1982 pastel and pencil on Arches paper 25” x 28” $550 unframed