My first visit to the Grand Canyon was in late winter 1978, I was 26. I spent 3 days in the canyon, and indeed it lives up to its name, the majesty and grandeur are beyond description. I was never without my sketch book. At every turn I had to capture as best I could all that was before me. My first Grand Canyon Series was started some years later; those sketches were subjects to countless paintings and pastels. In 2016 I revisited the canyon and the majesty and grandeur stands undiminished. I was compelled to start my Grand Canyon Series II.
The work shown here is part of my continued study of landscape. I start with the drawing for the basic composition. Then using color and line, I work to freely express the essential nature of that landscape. In my early work I pushed the elimination of the representational to no recognizable references. Now, I’m not pushing quite so far. This push is finding that edge between representational figurative work and pure abstraction.