Two Miles from Milkweed Painting

This painting is an original painting on watercolor paper. Artist signature is on front and back of original. It is also available for purchase as a print on paper. This painting draws its inspiration from the diverse array of animal species that play a crucial role in pollinating plants, even within my own garden. From butterflies and bees to hummingbirds, beetles, lemurs, and beyond, their presence is indispensable to ecosystems worldwide. Their pollination efforts serve as a cornerstone for the survival of countless other animals and plants within their respective habitats. My work portrays my observations – as an artist and as a human being – of the deep connection between plants and animals, as seen everywhere from expansive landscapes to the smallest ecosystems. My multi-layered abstract canvases serve as windows into natural landscapes and environments with pollution and consumerism clinging to the edges. The pieces are made up of layers of paint, sprayed, scraped and squeegeed, to reveal large fields of color, with expressive gestural marks where abstracted elements from the natural world are exposed. My work thereby elevates the viewer’s awareness of our involvement as human beings in our world’s natural decline, from its melting ice to disappearing species, from plastic-overrun oceans to pollinators poisoned by pesticides. The story I want to tell is steeped in the grandeur of nature, from sweeping landscapes and bodies of water to forest and desert, as well as more minute parts of the natural world too often dismissed – and the forces, many man-made, currently threatening all of them. My abstract, gestural style of painting encourages viewers to freely discover their own meanings in the work, although the bold use of paint constantly highlights natural forms and elements.