I stand as part man, part bird here on the ledge of a skyscraper downtown.The city is vibrant and active as I watch the chaotic city street below. I like the vantage point from this perch high above the action, with the wind blowing through the buildings.
I have chosen to marry both photography and paint in my mixed media pieces that I call "Paintography". My creative process is inspired by my understanding of how we create our night dreams. As a lifetime dreamer and member and Chair of the Arts committee for the International Association for the Study of Dreams since 2007, I have learned a lot about dreams and this has inspired my creative process and resulting works.
I use photography to capture the symbols of our everyday life and then collage these images onto a canvas with no pre-determined layout. I attempt to leave the ego out of it and allow the unconscious to take over as much as possible. Each canvas, depending on size, can have anywhere from 25 (smaller works to 50 photographs (larger works) collaged onto the canvas. I then use acrylic paint as the emotional energy needed to create the Dreamscene within each piece, again allowing for the paint to be generously expressed over the photos with no preconceived ideas. I have learned to trust this creative process and to be ready for anything to happen, as when I wake from a dream with no idea of its meaning. As with a dream, I take the time to decode and understand what I find and focus in on these abstract dream scenes appearing on the canvas. One of the most interesting parts is discovering the dreams hidden within and helping to bring them into focus without ever destroying the original brush strokes and expressions of the original piece. Once the scene becomes clear, I invite the viewer to enter into these portals of the imagination, ready to see what lies within.