During 2020 and 2021, like most people, my life was shaped by Covid. I had more time to walk, to read, and to garden. Although I had always walked, I began walking more, usually walking between 80 and 100 kilometres per week. Reading was varied, fiction and non-fiction, authors such as Merlin Sheldrake, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Robert Macfarlane, Olga Tokarczuk, Te-Nehisi Coates, Richard Powers. Gardening included tending my own garden and participating with a community group committed to planting native plants to attract pollinators. The paintings I did during this time reflect my activities and many are about connections between walking and knowing, walking and place, earth and sky, land and water. They continue earlier concerns of the relationship between the human built and natural environments, and the fragility and resilience of the earth.
At times, whilst walking I picked up garbage from natural areas. The garbage was mostly discarded plastic bags, food and drink containers, straws, cigarette butts. Although it was a cosmetic clean up, the action offered some optimism and satisfaction and suggested the possibility of restoration.
All paintings are done with water-based oils on square wood panels and range in size from 12.5 x 12.5 cm to 61 x 61 cm.
