My desire to explore the human experience via the metaphor of landscape led me include figures within nature. I hope that the viewer sees a metaphysical sense of place in these images. The natural landscape serves as a backdrop to human action, and the emotions conveyed tap into grand, universal themes. I case my models as archetypes and they in some way have lived these roles. On reflection, I realize that these cinematic paintings depict people facing the most elemental conflict in nature—life and death—and that they ask more questions than they answer.