Natural Abstracts

Hand varnished archival photographs, mounted and floated in artist-made hardwood frames, ready to hang.

Here are four unique series of artworks, with more to come.

Water is essential to life, but also miraculous to look at. Constantly in motion according to winds and currents, water is a moving mirror, reflecting all that is around and above it. In this sense, water itself is invisible.

All the images in this series come from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, an area in Upper Michigan where vertical sandstone cliffs drop down into the water of Lake Superior. Because the woodlands above the cliffs are very wet, water is constantly filtering down through the stone and bringing out metals and minerals that create the remarkable compositions of color.

This series begins with 370° Tree Portraits. Each is made from about a dozen separate photographs that comprise the full circumference of the tree. Each shows us the heart of the tree in a unique way, a portrait with its own unmistakable character.

My more serious work with a camera began through long wilderness treks in the High Sierras around Yosemite. Surrounded by grand vistas and natural wonders, I felt driven to capture grand panoramic landscapes. But once I began to really see the abstract forms, colors and textures that abound in nature, all my ideas about what my work should be were changed. In a sense, I was set free. Now I find that images are everywhere.