I have been working on a series of summer paintings for a number of years now, staged in the backyard and at the pool. The paintings show family and friends packed together, interspersed with the bright colors of plastic inflatable toys and sun hats.

I am interested in depicting scenes of everyday life in the suburbs using the grandeur of baroque compositions. I’m particularly interested in bringing out the formal aspects of painting: the arrangement of light and dark shapes, the angles of repeating gestures, and the pathways of color through the painting.

I break up shapes and use patches of patterns to create a quilt-like surface, drawing viewers’ attention back again and again to the surface of the painting. I’m playing with how different approaches to representation––from realism to abstraction––can sit side by side and inform each other as the eye moves from one part of the painting to the next.