The patterns in this body of work are a metaphor for the female figure.  These patterns are combined with nature to address the life cycle, the flow of time, and the emergence from and eventual return of ourselves to earth.  In my own anxiety about the brevity of life I have sought to make connections between myself and the natural world.  Pattern is the vehicle I have chosen for figural representation because it speaks of who we are as individuals.  We create, wear,  and surround ourselves with patterns that appeal to us.  Often, for women these patterns are nature inspired.  I have selected patterns that have sparked my own sense memories (reminded me of certain people, places, events, sights, sounds, etc.) and joined them with natural environments that have left impressions upon me.  These artworks reflect the female spirit and its bond with the earth.

In the process of combining pattern and nature, my goal is to synthesize the two in some areas, allow them to take on the visual characteristics of the other (color, size, shape, location, texture), and to let them remain autonomous in other areas.  This duality is emphasized by creating them as diptychs, and by employing a painting technique that is at times intuitive, gestural, and more abstract, and at other times more controlled, precise, and graphic in nature.  Paint quality varies from thick and visibly textured, to thin and glazed or stained.

Compositionally, I have used repetition of both pattern and natural elements to provide a visual ebb and flow.  Ornamental pattern disintegrates into dark, indiscernible areas, or flows into a part of the landscape.  The surface moves from rich and elaborate to sparse and unattended.  Likewise, there is an extreme fluctuation of dark and light values.  These juxtapositions serve to represent the positive/negative and active/peaceful parts of the life cycle, the events that take place in a life from beginning to end.  Color also is important here as it allows connections to be made between the two subjects.  It can bring them together visually and also emphasize their differences.

The fusion of these feminine patterns and natural elements is essentially a discussion of time.  Like the many circles and layers used in the work, they may repeat and go on infinitely or stop indefinitely.

Artistic influences for the body of work include Helen Frankenthaler, Gustav Klimt, Joan Snyder, Julie Heffernan, Botticelli, and Laura Owens.