Artists Statement

Painting is something I have to do – rather than just something I like doing.

I have always wanted to paint, but for many years, I thought I couldn’t.  My mother is a painter and I thought this was just something she did.

I have been drawing for many years, as both an architect and an artist.  I believe drawing is a critical activity for any artist.  It’s an important way to observe our environment.  It’s a form of meditation.  It’s a way of accessing our intuition and passions.  It can be design.

I paint urban landscapes, forests and still lives.  When I can, I enjoy painting on site.  The peaceful solitude of painting in a forest affects my paintings, just as sitting by a busy street to capture an urban site does in a different way.  I am interested in exploring a balance of nature and urban form: the sustainability of nature within the confines of asphalt and small city lots.  The paintings I do in my studio tend to be more studied and controlled.  I also experiment with cubism and urban form.

I paint with water media - watercolour and acrylic.  When I first started painting, I found I could draw well enough that I could "rescue" an unsuccessful painting by drawing on it.  Subsequently, I focussed mainly on painting so that I could develop my sense of colour and composition.  I have recently returned to incorporating calligraphic line into some of my paintings, with charcoal, pencil, ink or fine painted marks. 

For the past few years, I have matted and framed watercolours in the traditional way, protecting the watercolour with glass.  Recently, I have started stretching watercolour paper on canvas stretchers and finishing the completed paintings with matte acrylic varnish.  The product is more portable and adaptable, since it can be displayed without glass.

I began to sell my work in 2004. I find that preparing for exhibits is another way of looking at what I’ve done and considering future works.