The Southwest is shaped by weather — canyons carved by centuries of water, mountain faces defined by wind and light. My paintings begin there, in that elemental landscape, and then depart from it.
I work in large-scale watercolor, building images of desert terrain and monsoon sky through a process that is as much discovery as intention. Field sketches and photographs serve as departure points; once the painting begins, I set them aside. Strict adherence to reference creates rigidity — I prefer to let the image find its own logic.
That logic emerges through the medium itself. I layer pigment heavily, then lift, wash, and rework the surface. Some pigments stain; others leave only a trace. Through this cycle of application and removal, water and pigment generate atmospheric structures I could not have planned — and which I then refine in response to shifts in tone, temperature, and rhythm. The result is landscape distilled to essential form, light, and movement: rooted in observation, shaped by process, and not quite bound to any specific place.