I make contemporary cold wax paintings along with acrylic work and traditional oil paintings that are guided by intuition and inspired by my life in rural Cape Breton.
Cold wax allows me to merge the visual aspects of painting with the tactility of sculpting. I use my hands, tools and found objects, including fabric and household implements, to shape and imprint the wax, adding colour with oil and acrylic paints and pastels. Working in layers, I create images that blend figurative and abstract elements, texture and mark-making. I often depict objects and small snapshots of moments from my life and the natural world. These may become covered or partially obscured in the course of creating the work, as I add and scrape away, discovering visual treasures buried in each piece.
I work by instinct, often feeling the painting is leading me as I develop it. I am motivated by energy and emotion, particularly joy. I embrace life and want my work to express my wonderment of the world around me, especially in seemingly simple everyday things. My paintings are my way of accessing these invisible forces and making them tangible to others.
