Unplugged

This oil on linen on wooden panel was created in July 2025. It has been framed with an elegant 2 in. deep RusticBurl red oak floating frame. The framed dimensions are 19.25 x 19.25 in.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

During the time I started to paint “Unplugged” I was giving serious thought toward how tied I was feeling to the online world and how much it might be costing my mind. I always thought I kept a good balance in that regard, but as time passed, I started to question whether it was interfering in ways that were no longer acceptable to me. I know I am not the only one.

In recent years I have re-invigorated my love of working from direct observation. The simplicity of drawing, measuring, responding to colour and space, using materials such as wood, canvas and linen, seems almost absurdly radical in our increasingly virtual world. And yet, it makes sense to me.

There is a lot of symmetry and stillness in “Unplugged”. I chose the simplest rustic table to create a space, and a jug made from the most irresistible blue glass. In a strange way I was thinking that the jug with its changeable surface and the way it bent the reflected shapes and space in the room seemed like good stand in for my head at the time.

I often include tools in my paintings, which are placed in a way that might invite you to pick them up. but in this case, also allude to a severing, a cutting off of something, and perhaps a return to nature and to creativity.