“In mythos and fairy tales, deities and other great spirits test the hearts of humans by showing up in various forms that disguise their divinity. They show up in robes, rags, silver sashes, or with muddy feet. They show up with skin dark as old wood, or in scales made of rose petal, as a frail child, as a lime-yellow old woman, as a man who cannot speak, or as an animal who can. The great powers are testing to see if humans have yet learned to recognize the greatness of soul in all its varying forms.” 
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves

I develop fable-based large scale black and white drawings that are sophisticated in technique to express universal themes such as joy, heartbreak, jealousy, pride, and aggression. The works take shape as visual stories of animals in a variety of imaginary settings that serve as metaphors for the human experience. These experiences can be all-encompassing like coping with loss, the feeling of belonging, conquering fear or small and specific like the sheer joy of basking in the sunlight during the cold winter months. These animals are rendered true to life, with all the details of a photograph to capture the animal’s physical attributes, but also the emotion experienced.  The characters living in these invented landscapes are complex; they are simultaneously lyrical, magical, intimate, hopeful, mysterious, and ominous. The landscapes that surround them are as much of a character in these visual stories as the animals themselves. 
 
In many ways, my process of creating is both scientific and journalistic.  I am simply responding to the beauty and chaos of the world around me through drawing and observation. The works portray accurate representations of animals and landscapes, however, there are imagined and embellished counterparts.  Part truth and part story to express archetypal strengths or weaknesses.   Depictions of images such as antlers growing atop a rabbit’s head or sagebrush wings growing out of the back of a rabbit populate my work. Objects such as antlers, snakeskin and sagebrush function as symbols of power and perseverance.  They become crowns, wings or capes, tools these animals use as they face universal obstacles in their specific lives. 
 
Using warm and cool whites and various shades of rich black charcoal, I work additively and subtractively to create depth on a two-dimensional surface.  Heavy thick fiber paper is employed to stand up to the layering of charcoals and pastels and constant erasure back down to the white pulp of the paper. I am channeling the stage lighting and intense drama created through the Baroque style of painting. Attention is drawn to specific parts of the piece by pushing the less important elements to the hazy background and bringing the more important features to the foreground and into focus to create a narrative.  The two-dimensional surface of paper becomes the setting for imagery that is balanced between abstraction and representation, sharp or blurred, objective and subjective.  Occasionally a small rich bit of symbolic color may be added to enhance the story.
 
The resulting work depicts an emotionally charged experience, allowing the viewer to identify with these all too-human characters, to witness and experience their own intimately personal landscape, as it relates to the characters on display in front of them.  Ultimately, the works asks viewers to look deeply at the interconnectedness among people, animals and landscapes amidst the conflicts and chaos of today’s modern world.