Intentionally Lost (oil on canvas, 2019)

(Private Collection)

I grew up in an enclosed neighborhood that was surrounded by woodland – the remains of what were once an apple orchard and a large farm. Throughout this vast track of uninhabited land ran a network of divers paths, some well-worn and wide enough to drive a tractor through and others so narrow that one would regularly have to push the undergrowth aside in order to pass. Some of these paths could be accessed by advancing beyond the terminus of any of several dead-end streets in the neighborhood whilst others, less conspicuous, could be found behind various houses, through a break in one of the rock walls that surrounded the neighborhood and cut through much of the woods. I can remember, as far back as the age of four, wandering these paths and venturing into the woods to explore, – something that I continued to do until I left my childhood home in early adulthood. In the ensuing years, I have continued to take long walks or runs into uncharted territory wherever I lived or travelled. My current location in northern Maine, where I am surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of uninhabited land, has proven to be ideal for me. The allure has always been the prospect of expanding my boundaries and confronting the unknown.

Traversing beyond our boundaries into unfamiliar territory is a necessary part of personal growth and is sacrosanct in any creative endeavor. As I have continued to evolve as an artist, I have found it increasingly more appealing to enter into the creation of an image without much of a plan and to allow the image to unfold as part of the process. Of course, this requires a solid foundation in both technique and the language of visual form in order to navigate my way through the process. I wouldn’t head out for a ten-mile hike without water and proper shoes. But I still want to be challenged by the art-making process and I want to be surprised as the image comes to fruition.

In many ways, the act of painting and drawing feels the same to me as when I wandered around the paths surrounding my neighborhood as a child as probably why I am so drawn to landscape motifs in my work.