wax & oil

These paintings were created over the last few years during a period marked by abrupt change and unforeseen loss for many people.  They are a visual and emotional response to anxiety generated by the fear of the unknown. Influenced to some degree by the fall of our economy and the devastation that followed, they depict figures in various psychological states.  It is a state of being, rather than a particular being that I am most interested in depicting. The individual characteristics

of the people I paint are secondary to the archetypal spirit that they personify.  They are representative of shared emotion and universal experience. In keeping with the theme of this series, I incorporated wax into many of the images not only as a sculptural component but also to add an unfamiliar element to the work. In doing so I was less sure about the direction of each piece as wax was a new, unpredictable medium.  Leaping into the unknown with wax was a deliberate choice to be undertaken with childlike enthusiasm instead of fear. These images are the result of that experiment