The use of animal imagery developed from my previous focus on human figures and relationships. Animals slowly entered my canvases and eventually became the subject matter. Animal individuality, intelligence and instincts sometime mirror human behavior, but most often reflect an aspect of survival. Some works refer to the predator-prey relationship, some the possibility of extinction and some to survival.
Wild animals learn a lack of trust.
Domesticated animals learn trust, whether this is unnatural or natural not does not matter, but the intelligence of animals fascinates me. No doubt the pure and natural beauty of animals contributes to my use of animals as subject matter. My current body of work is created by combining woodcuts and painted frames with canvases. The relief images on the woodcut are cut with chisels into graphic depictions of animals. After inking the woodcuts they are attached to the oil paintings on canvas.