Here are some images from my most recent show, From the Ground Up, at Phillips Studio and Gallery. It featured 8 paintings I completed this summer as I raced to keep up with the fast and furious growing season.
Artist Statement
It feels like only yesterday I was speculating with my
children as to when the little green buds would burst into leaves. Soaking in
the first warm rays of springtime sun, summer stretched before us like a
promise to look forward to. And then one day our world was green. Suddenly
little horsetails started to appear. Soon other little bright green shoots
started to show themselves. And grass, wonderful grass! It all started
happening so fast. The world was green and we were in it, bugs were buzzing,
birds were singing, and plants were growing all around us. Who could keep track
of what came next? We were too busy being barefoot to notice. Those brand new
leaves became food for leaf miners before they even know what hit them. And
then thorny rosebushes began to invade our paths, how did they get so big?
Suddenly pink roses dotted the woods. Before we could blink the petals fell,
revealing firm green rose hips working overtime to become red and ripe. Tiny
white flowers growing in clusters turned into pale green berries right before
our eyes. Then dandilions, giant dandilions!
And fireweed, oh no, not fireweed, the hourglass had turned. More
blooms, bigger leaves, giant caterpillars, larvae sacs, mushrooms, red berries,
overripe, turning to seed, a yellow leaf. And here we are. Whew.
Summer in Fairbanks is a mad rush of growth and activity. It
is as if the flora knows it must hurry, time is not to be wasted.
These paintings were all created this summer, and each
attempts to capture a stage of the growing process or to recall the way the
landscape felt at a particular time. It all happened so fast and this is my
attempt to savor a few of the miraculous changes that took place in one short
summer.
