My work is an exploration of objects, nature, places (real or fictional), or figures/themes from folklore and literature that resonate for me in some way. It is driven by the desire to gain, through focused observation, a greater awareness of the subjects I translate into relief prints.
In a world of constant visual input, with countless images streaming at us each day, it’s impossible to fully absorb the depth of all we see. Too often, we acknowledge our surroundings at only surface level. Capturing an image on paper forces me to go beyond the initial, surface, impression of a subject and leads me to its subtleties and nuances. This, in turn, takes me out of a surface consciousness and allows me to go deeper within myself.
Frederick Franck, in his Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing (Bantam 05/93), writes: “The moment the eye opens up, all becomes equally fascinating, equally inspiring, equally pregnant with meaning”. Inspired by this approach, my creative process is first, an open-eye exercise in “seeing”, second, a meditation, and third, an expression of the insights gained as a result of the two.