Portals

The Portals Tapestries were painted during the covid lockdown and are a significant departure from my previous work. In the past, my paintings have been largely figurative and filled with mythic resonance of identifiable subjects, often women and animals. In contrast, these tapestries start with a strong pattern in black and white. I develop strong color to create both a mood and a feeling of mystery suggested by our world, but often obscured by all the distractions of everyday life. Where figures start to emerge in the paint, I sometimes give them stronger form.

These tapestries are painted directly onto un-primed, un-stretched re-purposed drop cloths and mounted on heavy canvas so they can hang freely on the wall.

I offer these abstract color compositions as portals to another world. These paintings are meant to be lived with and pondered. Over time they will reveal surprising layers of meaning.

The Portals Tapestries were first exhibited at the Buckley Center Gallery at the University of Portland in 2022.