The stillness of the body against the flowing landscape is one of the most distinctive qualities of these paintings.
In my recent Figure in Landscape paintings, I bring together two subjects that have been present in my work for many years: the human figure and landscape. The figures are connected to my long engagement with dance and movement, yet here they are still. Each holds a particular posture, a small gesture, a specific arrangement of the hands, almost like a dance at rest. Around them, the landscape continues to move through horizontal bands of shifting color and rhythmic groupings of trees, impressions gathered on my way to the studio. I am interested less in traditional perspective than in creating depth through relationships between planes of color. The figure, dress, ground, horizon, and trees respond to one another, creating a kind of round dance across the surface of the painting. I often experience color almost like sound, through rhythm, contrast, repetition, and unexpected combinations.