When I make a painting or drawing I spend intense time observing my subjects and distilling their shapes and textures onto the page with pen, paint, and pencil. I use select detail, like a divot in a rock or the shape of a leaf, to create focus and move the eye across the page. I create intimate portraits of inanimate objects including bird nests, clumps of vegetation, and rocks to appreciate the beauty and the story of each thing. I use my training as a naturalist and science illustration to make observations about natural history, but I am also interested in the human connection, and how I project myself onto the world around me. Most of the work in this gallery was born from exploring the land around my home in the Wrangell-St. Elias.