Paintings: A window into the Thin Place
I find myself deeply connected to the Celtic tradition of the thin place, which emphasizes the spirituality in the landscape around us. This resonates with the teachings of Jesus Christ—who says the rocks cry out and declare the majesty of God. Much like the concept of the thin place, Jesus serves as a bridge between the earthly and the divine, embodying the profound union of the physical and the spiritual. In my artistic process, I draw inspiration from this divine connection, seeking to create works that not only invite viewers into the realm of the thin place but also awaken their awareness of the presence of Christ.
Just as Jesus Christ is viewed as the window through which humanity can experience God's love and grace, my paintings become windows into the thin place, offering glimpses of the transcendent and the eternal. Through deliberate brushstrokes and carefully selected shapes and colors, I aim to convey the depth of Christ's teachings and his embodiment of divine truth. The interplay of form and color in my artworks symbolize the contrast between the temporal and the spiritual and serve as reminders of the heavenly realm that Christ beckons us to seek.
Therefore, like a window into a thin place, these paintings enable contemplative moments to look beyond yourself. They invite your mind to pause and wander throughout the surface of the painting, absorbing the textures, colors, and balance of form. The paintings can be read as landscapes—influenced by the open spaces, tree lined forests, and rivers that flow through the prairies of the Midwest. Emphasizing painterly qualities of the brush, fields of color interact through gesture in a process-based approach. Each painting evolves with spontaneity and intuition to allow for the composition to be discovered. Layers of collaged canvas and heavy applications of oil paint facilitate dialogues in the work between figure and ground, color and texture, movement and stillness.
My art serves as a vessel for contemplation and spiritual reflection, providing an opportunity to encounter the transcedent. I strive to create these windows where viewers can witness the interplay of the physical and the spiritual intertwine on canvas.