Vivacious

My houses and buildings have broken away from earlier paintings of towering stacks of buildings. With those communities collapsing, I was moved to paint some new ground-an escape for their residents, who now often find themselves entrenched in nature instead of towering above it. Tumbling out of the previous paintings of destruction, these little buildings are a bit like refugees lost in a new world where they are not quite certain how they fit in yet.

The plant life in my paintings are picked up from walks I take in nature- this stump in Vivacious I found in a small graveyard in Vermont. I like imagining little worlds living in an alternate universe as I walk along the mossy stumps and mushroom troops. I also think about the effects of climate change that we are now experiencing. Our familiar natural world is shifting to new patterns and who knows what the future will bring. Reflecting my own hopes and fears, my paintings may depict residents striking off on their own to snuggle down into new surroundings, finding a magical home and forming communities among the flora and fungus. Other times they may seem small, alone, and overwhelmed by the landscape.

In Vivacious I hoped to create a more optimistic feeling with both a landscape and the relationship between the two houses to explore. Although we are perched somewhat precariously on precipices in this painting, I find both tranquility and longing in this garden.