ARTIST'S STATEMENT

For many years my paintings and pastels reflected a blending of my childhood memories.  This became more and more a transcription of my personal inner feelings, state of mind, and moods.  The paintings can go from serene to stormy, depending on what’s happening in my life and around me at the time of creation.  They are images straight out of my mind; imaginary landscapes and seascapes that transcribe the different stages of my life and personality.

Landscapes are a mirror of myself; the land where I grew up and the land where I am presently living.  Landscapes are also a reflection on human civilization.  The character of the land is a direct echo of the people who live on it.  The opposite is also true.  The rough and mysterious mountain people live among the sharp, tall peaks and the well-organized Dutch live on flat land squared off into farms.  We are a direct issue of the terrain.

My landscapes are dreamlike and put together like stage sets.  They are images whose edges are softened by the layering of time.  They are scenes in which motion is suspended; where the ensuing composition is all important.  The space depicted in the paintings stays enclosed and private while it is swept by a strange, unifying light.

More recently, I started a new series of paintings which reflect an evolution toward a looser and more energetic way of applying paint.  This different painting technique has resulted in crushing waves and surfs that reflect emotional times in my life, or seas of icy calm that suggest a great sense of peace and harmony.  This is reminiscent of the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang – the positive and negative ebb and flow of life.