My most recent paintings represent an important shift in my studio practice as well as my personal life. Having spent most of my adult life living and working in the Skagit Valley of northwest Washington – my studio was situated along a tidal slough in the village of Edison – my husband, Carl, and I decided to take on a new adventure and relocate to Northern California this past spring. The weather, light and topography of Sonoma County were all new to me and it has been exciting to feel my way around it, visually, by drawing and painting. However, many elements of this new place feel quite familiar to me and I am drawn to some of the same aspects that you may see in my work: the intersection of damp marshes and fertile farmland, the effect of rising tidelines on aging dikes and the magical effect of shifting weather and skies on the landscape.
Coincidentally, my new studio is, again, situated next to a tidal slough by the Petaluma River. It flows through a busy town center then reaches across a vast estuary in a network of diked loops, marshes and oxbows until it reaches San Pablo Bay. Like the Skagit and Samish delta, it provides rich habitat for a diverse biosystem as well as evidence of the effect of rising sea levels on adjacent farmland and an aging system of dikes. In California as in Washington, I am captivated by the interplay of contrasting elements: old and new, manmade and natural, the intricate scritch-scratch of surface texture and the beautiful blur of distance.
As I did in Edison, I take my coffee out every day to observe the tide level, the weather and any visiting wildlife along the river. I am reminded of how much I learned about the Skagit/Samish landscape by painting it: it took so long to appreciate its complexities. Will I ever learn to see the nuances, the tensions and the story behind the beauty of this new place? All I know is that, as always, painting will be my greatest and most generous teacher.
