In Chinese and Japanese landscape painting traditions, mountains and water are frequently paired for what they symbolize: The mountain represents what is still and serene, while water represents what is changing, moving, ephemeral. Mountain is “being” and water is “becoming.” Together, a whole.

This body of work feels like both of those things. It is the “being” of my practice—where it has arrived, containing a lifetime of where I have been. And it is the “becoming”—another step towards a vision that is perpetually out of reach.

Each cycle I evolve, refine. I simplify further—the composition, the palette, the shapes, the perspective. How can I convey the essence of my experience of nature in as few “words” as possible—to leave space and silence for the viewer to have their own experience?

Some of these paintings are closer to the “haiku” to which I aspire. Others are more akin to a visual Romantic ballad—rich with nature’s beautiful colors and complexity—because that still beguiles me.

This is me now, being and becoming.