“The first impression was one of total darkness. The monumental trees towered above and engulfed me as i walked through this part of the Eastern Shore. After a while, I sensed light shimmering through the darkness. The solidity was diffused and the images crowded together. As I moved around and between the trees, I felt the contradictory sensations of being both isolated and connected, participant and observer, one with the woods yet separate. I slowly began to understand the woods, I saw in their trunks and vines, poison ivy and leaves, ticks and birds, a mirror of my contradictory self. The overwhelming darkness became an envelope in which ideas appeared and disappeared, changed color or focus with every new position.

In the blackness, diffused light and changing patterns of my paintings, I hope to recreate my first explorations of this living enclosure.”