It’s all about the characters, in the personality sense, whether they are human or animal. Space also has personality, and can be equally represented as a character.

In The Cave, light and dark marks trace patterns of imminent movement or of movements that have already transpired.

Air and smoke whirl, breath passes. Feet patter. Feathers and leaves are falling.

The paint defines the kinetic potential (or stillness) between the figures and the space they inhabit– Speed and color set the pace and atmosphere.

A painting is a sliver in time, freezing layers of experience, into one moment…

The works below represent various approaches to the ideas of space, narrative and personification used in The Cave.

Woodcut prints are used to produce clear images with strong lines. “The Birthmark” is my vision of the most basic Buddha iconography—simple but not dull, and limitless in its variety of expression within the linear parameters of a print. This project is about getting a personality as accurate as possible.

The Birthmark
Woodblock and blotter paper proof

Stephanie is painted from a photo and then again as an abstracted “cloudman” person.

The Cave features human figures that have been abstracted from actual physical features of the human form. I've explored this process before with a series of figures in various paintings that I call "cloud people".

Hannah is a painting from memory of my friend. I used this one as a partial prototype for the woman in The Cave, shown to the right. The woman from The Cave is a refinement of the cloudman type of imagery.

The Donkey—humble, sneezy, sad and endearing. The mark making in this print activates the space in a similar way to the atmosphere of The Cave. The Blue Horse tests color with character, and is used in the the cave figure under the bird.