Orchard in a Jar Painting

My work is about “transvision” – about seeing beyond the bare facts in front of us to something vaster and full of grace, and about making that invisible reality present, expressive and tangible to others. I strive for this by using classical disciplines in figure, portraiture and landscapes but giving them free rein in a color-filled expressionism. The intent is to create works that seem to burst from the two-dimensional confines of the surface and create for the viewer new ways of seeing. My subjects typically are drawn from the visible world: trees, flowers, patches of gardens and places, such as a cathedral or a town square in El Salvador. I research these objects extensively to “see” them in full. I usually paint them in a series, with a central theme, such as creation, trees, light, transformation, mystery. I abstract the concrete and overlay multiple perspectives, striving to express the “lived” essence of an object and the experience of that object, rather than capture a basic form. I always work on several pieces at once, to avoid overpainting any one of them. I might have six surfaces progressing so I don’t end up doing six paintings on one surface. To me, color can be tasted, it’s delicious. Although normally working primarily in oil paints I recently began using oils over layers of egg tempera. I apply extensive, thin layers, with an array of brush sizes, building up the colors I want. I control the color intensities and subtleties by controlling both pigment and medium. I usually work large: my smallest works are 30 x 40 inches. But I often work 4 x 4 feet and larger. I have no fear of a blank canvas of any size. I want the painting to transcend the edges of the canvas. The abstraction coupled with intense colors can seem at first glance almost chaotic. But as a friend said to me: “I can always see form and order emerging from your paintings.” That emergence is ongoing: my goal for the viewer is a painting that, while finished, is not complete and is always inviting the viewer into continuous transvision.