I've been working on making the purest images possible for about 20 years. While I've succeeded to varying degrees over the years, this is the closest I've come in a long time. I've always wanted to have a show called, "Moby Dick, and Other Stories," and while I do have an image of a whale in the Director's Cut of this work, such a literal (as well as literary) interpretation is not recommended. Just the idea of an individual in contact with the void of the rest of the world. No alpha or omega... You are here.

Fresian, 23x17, framed pigment print on rag paper, $495

Hill Horse, 24x46, framed pigment print on rag paper, $1200

Horse Arc, 24x50, framed pigment print on rag paper, $1200

My journey into fine art has been a progression from my work in graphic design. It slowly changed from design to illustration and then into fine art. It actually began years before I recognized it with the fascination I had with vintage photography. From family heirloom photos and faces or images that called to me from open field flea markets. Each image has a story to tell. My greatest joy in creating is discovering that story and bringing the past and present together. I try to incorporate that throughout the art I create. Salvaged wood and traditional gessoed panels, vintage photography and ephemera, merge with modern technology and new imagery and then back again into layers of encaustic beeswax. The end result is a fusing of time and imagery to tell a new story.

Red Roots, 36x30, encaustic, photograph on panel, $2850

Brave New Steps, 17x12, encaustic, photograph on panel, $695

Moment of Inspiration, 32x24, encaustic, photograph on panel, $2250

The process of change in nature is a constant source of wonder and inspiration that I try to mimic in my work through the combination of beeswax, acrylic paint and texture. This process of change and transformation is supported by integrating many different media such as collage, encaustic (molten beeswax), printmaking and acrylic paint on various sustainable substrates.

As a mixed-media artist, I create my art using acrylic paint, encaustic (molten beeswax) and collage on various substrates such as wood, canvas and paper. Primarily working on commission, I enjoy collaborating with clients to create artwork that leads me to the next step in the progression of my process and development while complementing an existing space. The focus of my artwork has always been about the beauty of nature and finding inspiration from the extraordinary colors and light. As I explore this idea, I have been intrigued with nature's ever-changing seasons. I often contemplate how nature relates to our cycles of existence.

In this new series of work, I use contrasting materials and substrates to create works that oscillate between painting and sculpture. I use solid substrates made of wood and circular acrylic panels using encaustic (beeswax) and acrylic paint as well as metallic paints that transform or react when combined. Combinations are discovered, explored, proposed, rejected and accepted as part of the art-making process. Components are moved around in varying compositions. Some paintings are created to be part of a series and some are partnered through discovery. Through this approach I discover relationships between the elements creating rhythms, patterns and visual textures that are nature-based as well as abstract. Over time, contrasting or common elements form connections, which is what I am really hoping to explore through this interaction.

I apply changes in texture and color by painting diverse surfaces with unusual materials such as beeswax and metallic paints that patina when they interact and create something new. I begin with a layer of paint or a structure, and from that point on, it becomes about process; making marks and textures, applying materials, responding to each action with a reaction. In this way, spontaneous connections are valued as highly as are planned compositions. As each work evolves, it gains an identity that eventually solves itself through process, positive and negative space and dimension.

From Below, 18x24, encaustic, photograph on panel, $750

In the Distance, 24x24, encaustic, photograph on panel, $850

Sunrise, 24x18, encaustic, photograph on panel, $750

“There are two ways of spreading light: 
to be The candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
--EDITH WHARTON

I believe discovery happens over and over again. I first started photographing rare books in 1993 –  this is when I got hooked on taking pictures of pictures, making new pictures from hand writing, musical sketches, marginalia, and the small, richly preserved paintings of illuminators. In my work I have met with great collectors and tried my best to enter into the unique world each collection creates. I usually feel like I am on a treasure hunt, that I am uncovering valuable images that have their own longing to be seen and to be relevant today. For my photography there is no better landscape for this discovery process than the library. 

Special thanks to the cartographers, illuminators, and the collectors: William & Johannes Blaeu, William H. Scheide, Arthur Ferris, William T. Grant, Kristina Johnson, James Ford Bell, Gilman Ordway and the magical world of Parisian, Pierre Pomet. 

Thank you to the Universities & Museums for their commitment to collect, preserve and share. I am grateful to the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota, The Schubert Club Museum, Princeton University, and private collectors. 

Armenian Princess, 36x24, photograph on aluminum, $1450

Stack of Books, 16x28, photograph on aluminum, $950

Hands, 18x12, photograph on aluminum, $495

I believe thoughtful, captivating imagery often communicates most effectively when left to subjective reception, without the pretenses of motivation and inspiration. That said, I would describe my work as sometimes but not always: inventive to an end ideal, interpretative rather than descriptive, a fresh take on archetypical, intuition-driven, semi-surreal, symmetrical, sensual ≥ intellectual, organic-based, and ecclesiastical. I’m obsessed with creating beautiful images.

Wanagi Yata, 54x41, framed archival pigment print on rag paper, $4200

The Sea and the Sky, 34x33, framed archival pigment print on rag paper, $2450

Incarnation, 54x41, framed archival pigment print on rag paper, $4200

A landscape can be read like a text, each element revealing a piece of a narrative. Weeds can tell stories of traveling across continents and displacing other species to dominate their new terrains. Cultivated plants have survived and spread partially through their seduction of human beings, and some animal species are now believed to have partially domesticated themselves. Landscape is something constructed, piece by piece, by many different players.

This body of work explores this built aspect of the environment by following the same basic structure as millefleur tapestries. Each work is assembled flower by flower so that the final image contains dozens of individual photographs. Native species mix with non-native and even invasive plants, as do human and animal elements.

Pest II, composite photograph, 30x24, $1795

Captivity I, composite photograph, 30x24, $1795

Captivity II, composite photograph, 30x24, $1795