Almost a year ago, I was beyond tickled to have one of my prints included in the “Reframing the American Landscape” exhibit. Little did I know that another painting in that exhibit, Robert Swain Gifford’s Padanaram Salt Flats, would spark my next body of work. Until I saw that painting, I had not known that Padanaram’s bucolic sailing harbor was once home to 13 saltworks. This tidbit of history made me want to revisit my series, Close to Home, where I tried to envision the landscape experienced by Gifford and his contemporaries. In my imagining and framing, it was a world untouched by the hand of man. I feel compelled to return to these places with a more nuanced eye and to find a way to illuminate the shadows of the past.

To help me in that quest, I am taking a class called Print, Paint & Stitch that challenges me to visualize narratives more abstractly. It will be a long journey of discovery. These images are early steps in the process.