Africa first inspired me to paint landscapes. For three years Kenya was home and almost immediately its color, form, and diverse geography captivated me. I looked for new ways of painting East Africa’s vast landscapes by building depth through glazing over flat color shades and tints to draw the eye into the vision.
Modus operandi: After stretching and preparing the canvas with gesso, I outline the composition in paint before applying a tonal underpainting. I begin pushing paint color over the canvas, working toward naturalism. The composition is then broken down into flat, sometimes exaggerated, color with defined edges. I use a flat or bright brush for this as well as fine sables. When the piece begins to show abstractions, I add metallic glazes giving depth to the composition. By alternating glazes with flat, stratified color, an effect of near-observed abstraction and far-observed realism is produced.