Summer Sick as Love, 2010, 64x58, gouache on paper   


Installing Orchids at a Funeral for Tom Gauhan, 2010, 72x50, oil on linen

A Living Opal, 2010, 80x84, oil on linen

Sound The Lobster Claw Harmonica, 2009, 24x16, oil on muslin on board

Summer Sick As Love Bromfield Gallery, Boston, July 2010
Summer seduces our sense of scale and pace.  There is a longing that starts to swell as the summer grows; to escape the thick of it.  Flooded by color, this romantic mania can feel incredible until it hits the point of heat stroke.  The paintings in "Summer Sick as Love" are connected to the overwhelming pressures of humidity, pleasure and decadence that unfold in the physical act of painting as well as the building narrative.  Characters create objects that are initially a source of delight or sweetness but ultimately become a dominating force in their painted world.

 
I start each of these paintings with an idea that is based on personal history, using self portraits to enter the picture.  The painting becomes a filter of my current life, gleaning from my interactions and influences.  As I step back from the work I see elements of some of my favorite media, including, Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Lovis Corinth's self portraits and Pepi Ginsburg's beautiful song "Summer Sick as Love", of which she shared her title.