Extinction ©1991  73” x 122”   oil on canvas

A painting that took shape as I read about The Great Auk. It is disturbing how careless man can be. Many of the stories are about unnecessary brutality, rather than survival. Even today I can't seem to shake the end of the story. "The last pair, found incubating an egg, was killed there on 3 July 1844, with Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson strangling the adults and Ketill Ketilsson smashing the egg with his boot."

This painting is in the world. 

PROJECT: My history of painting
I am going through a box of  slides, containing my early paintings, to scan and share them.

Hybrid ©1991 70” x 80” oil on canvas

This painting captures the time when there was wind of new scientific roads. Cloning, gene engineering, DNA modification, and all the technology used to transfer and combine different sources of cells, plant or animal, to create something new.  I painted a horse being held immobile in a sling. He seems to have three heads either resulting from an experiment, or denoting terrified movement.

This painting is in the world. 

PROJECT: My history of painting
There is a box slides of my early paintings, works created while I was in my 20s and 30s, that I am scanning and sharing now.

I first learned of hunters when we moved to Maine. We lived on the backside of a small mountain, down a dirt drive that hunters with guns slung on their backs would use to access the woods. We heard stories of accidents and people being shot. Not everyone wore orange. 

At the time, I was reading Rape of the Wild by Andree Collard with Joyce Contrucci.
This is my first huge painting even though there are several underneath this one. Today, the painting is in storage.

PROJECT: My history of painting
I am scanning slides of my early paintings, works created while I was in my 20s and 30s.

Pothole ©1991   74” x 61”   oil on canvas 

One might think that this painting has to do with urban streets and life. To some extend it does, but there is also a Pothole region in the North American prairies.  Pothole Ponds are tiny natural nicks in the earth, caused by moving glaciers, that fill with water and pepper the Midwest grasslands.  These "wetlands" are the breeding grounds of a millions of migrational fowl.  As big farming and housing developments sprout these shallow wet spots are filled in and planted. The lost potholes disturb bird migration. The "remedy" is a chain of manmade puddles placed along our highways. 

This is why I am "into" birds. They saw the land becoming less hospitable way before we did.

This painting hung in my home for some time and is now in my studio.

PROJECT: My history of painting
I am scanning slides of my early paintings, works created while I was in my 20s and 30s.

Mechanism ©1991 70” x 70” oil on canvas

This was my first painting where I stepped back and said "Did I do that?" and "Can I do that?" I can't say that I really knew what it was about, but I do recall thinking about engines and motors. The painting captured my feelings about innovations and how we make marvelous things, yet in some cases we have invented silly things.
This painting is "in the world."

PROJECT: My history of painting
A box of slides sits on my desk. I am going through my painting history and will share the journey here. For years, I have been meaning to do this. Now is the time because I am in my studio working on a new series that I will share in the spring!
Please enjoy these paintings created while I was in my 20s and 30s.