My memories of growing up on a tree lined street in Queens, my grandfather a European trained Horticulturist, and my father teaching me to garden resounds within me as my art increasingly references local environments. The love of nature is in my DNA. During Covid lockdown while observing nature curbside and in local parks, I discovered Downed Trees with Fungus which captured my imagination. My paintings are metaphor for the regenerative process of fungi decomposing tree fibers into microbe enriched soil. Fungi also are a food source and medicine. Embracing a bold graphic style I call attention to everyday events in nature to alert us to our relationship to nature and the destruction of trees fighting pollution and climate change. I seek to promote awareness of ecosystems supporting our planet. I work directly on canvas, strokes of color and line choreograph and loosely plot the composition’s flow. Reactions to my subjects become one with the developing multilayered dynamics of the composition infusing the paintings with a sense of freedom and discovery which supports the interpretation of nature on a personal level.
Image: Downed Tree with Fungus 11 detail
