landscapes

This body of work was inspired by my daily commute into the city where I teach. Before I moved into the city, my daily commute became a large part of my day.

At times, my schedule has been more demanding and I have found myself getting into the car in complete darkness and the sun would rise during my drive and be completely up by the time I had parked. The drive is a quiet, peaceful time to think and listen to good music or even mentally prepare for my busy schedule. This part of my day became an oasis.
During the winter months, my drive home would be accompanied by the fading light of the short days. It would seem, coming and going, that I existed only in this dim low-key realm of anonymous, isolated drivers - each of us in our private moving world.
The absence of cars in these compositions, which some interpret as a true luxury in and of itself, helps to translate the isolation and calm that I experience in the privacy of my own car. Each painting is oil paint on a 12 X12” wood panel. I see these as both separate pieces and as one single (grid) work of art at the same time.

These drawings (below) became an avenue in which I can continue exploring the landscape of this stretch of interstate (I-95) when I am busier and only have a short period at a time to work in my studio. The intimacy of working on this subject with graphite on 4x6 inches of paper transformed my approach dramatically and I found myself immersed in a process focused on details that I would like my students to achieve.