Arbutus Trunks Against the Salish Sea

There is something about the imperfection and roughness of painting sketches that I have worked at bringing to the studio with me and larger canvases. It is not an easy task. Our natural tendency is to want to get caught up in the visual details. A kind of subject hyperrealism. I want more than this in my work. I want us to find our whole sensory presence tickled by the swiftly moving and not so swift brushstrokes. What are we hear, smelling, tasting when we look at a landscape painting? What is its texture? The way of madness possibly because how do you paint the smell of the sea or the sounds of the ferry wake? Yet, often these other sensory capacities seep in to support our eyes I think. This is my wish. That you are standing beside me on the Mayne Island shore and can see this painting sketch as if your eyes are closed.