These arroyo paintings grow out of a continued and repeated investigation of place. They are completed in the studio utilizing observational sources gathered on site. This process results in a kind of naturalism that is in opposition to the brushstrokes on the surface, a dialogue in continuous flux throughout the work.

I select these sites and images based on a wider concern of how we as a city relate to and conceive the natural world around us. I'm interested in how theses spaces are used, and how that permission whether implied or real is given, taken, or revoked. Simultaneously these paintings are about paints ability to depict light. These spaces themselves reflect, absorb and play with light in a myriad of ways. Shifting planes of luminosity and concrete, arroyos convey a countless variation of color of which I've only begun to explore.

I am also presented with a set of formal spatial issues. While in some images I employ a strong one point perspective to draw the viewer into a painting I am now increasingly arranging these compositions in horizontal bands, flattening the image. This shift, formal as well as conceptual, presents the viewer with a series of barricades thus eliminating a deep space visual exit. All these spaces are intentionally left unpopulated, presented as quiet urban scenes evoking a sense of loneliness and isolation. These paintings ultimately allow me to contemplate the significance of place while exploring the construction of a painted image.