My work should be experienced in person, rather than viewed on a screen. Many in the developed world now live much of their lives gazing at computer monitors or television screens. My paintings resist this flattening of our senses with an opulent sensual appeal. They beg to be touched.

My paintings reflect my visual experience from Miami, Florida to Portland, Oregon. In the magnificent terrain, and abundance of plants and ocean forms, I have found major inspiration for the organic nature of my imagery. Also, I am interested in folk art, in the Expressionists, in the feminist-based Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s, and in the masterful way Henri Matisse orchestrated his colors. Recently, I have been looking at the sculpture, architecture and paintings of the Baroque and Rococo eras: I am attracted to the rhythm, the theatricality, and the sense of erupting excess, barely kept under control. I want to bring that drama, bold beauty and intensity to my own work.

My paintings are an exploration of how paint responds to new demands. I use paint as a sculptural medium. By limiting my palette, my intentions are focused on breaking the plane. I imbue the surface with a Baroque orchestration of forms. I surprise by breaking the illusion of space on the flat plane of the painting with three-dimensional elements that literally project, occupying their own space. Increasingly, my works bridge the divide between painting and sculpture.