My preoccupation is with the Garden of Eden, its metaphors for beauty and richness, and its intimations of lost innocence. My choice of, and approach to this subject matter reflects the vanitas style, meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. My work studies how these ideas provide a moral justification for the painting of attractive objects. As in other genre painting, the enjoyment evoked by the sensuous painting of the subject (still-life and flowers) is in fascinating contrast to the moralistic message.
I look at the objects I paint as being vehicles of light, form and colour as well as symbolic content. Flowers have a particular attraction for me as through their life cycle they assume postures which mirror those of people, expressing the same characteristics of strength and vulnerability.
My influences are the Canadian painter Mary Pratt, American realists Harriet Shorr and Janet Fish, and British painters Shirley Trevena and David Hockney.
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