I am not an artist who has a groove.  My interest in making things has led to several directions.  I work as a printmaker, and blacksmith/sculptor. During the pandemic I have been reading more and have had more time to assess work and contemplate new  directions, more time for art study, missing museums terrifically.   Digitized images pale beside real encounters with made works

I do not at present have my etching press set up so I have been making woodcuts.  Some of these reference the Homeric world and are part of a large print cycle I have been working on for a few years, challenging myself with figurative work.

I look forward to completing this Homeric series.  I have nearly finished a large four plate etching of the Trojan War.  Homeric imagery has been a subject of interest for artists throughout time; Leonard Baskins, Cy Twombly, Anthony Caro and many others have tackled this narrative.  I felt that I had something to add to this body of work.  What can be said of the women of Troy? What is Leda’s story beyond the myth of the swan?  These prints are classical, painterly in the tradition of Rembrandt.  I am seeking power through the nuances of black ink.  I print my own plates, thus I control the wiping for maximum and varied expression

This past year has been a time to reflect on what I want to turn to next.  After so much intensive figurative work in printmaking, I may return to abstract prints, and to sculpture.  The piece Sentinel is a forerunner to more forged steel and wood sculpture using beams from my barn which is now being renovated for new work space.