Looking at familiar trees, bushes, streets, and buildings that make up the contemporary landscape I see a wealth of visual and conceptual possibilities. Using a combination of observation, memory, and invention, I translate the informative potential of the world and into pictorial construction. The formal qualities of en plein air painting diverges into a world of reduced forms and color.

Working from life and invention in the studio complement and inform each other forming a symbiotic relationship. Bold color in the collages influences the pallet selection when painting from observation. The geometric shapes, forms and cast shadows observed when painting create the composition of the collages.

For the relationship between observation and creation to develop, I must divest myself of limiting preconceptions by removing myself from the subject I am observing. The challenge is to translate visual information into work that speaks of its own making, both as image and object.