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The images in this series, Variations on a Northern Vortex, are the result of a walking practice, in which I have no specific goal other than locating subject matter for a composition. It is a derive and meditative process that attempts to override the regular, utilitarian, goal-oriented movements of day-to-day life. Often during these walks, my intuition brings me back to the same location, sensing a composition. When this happens, I return over and over, again creating compositions that I take home to process. Each day when I return to the location, I perceive not just changes in light and mood but I also recall prior iterations of images I have processed. When this happens, sounds, colours, shapes, and tones emerge; the scene becomes abstract in my mind. At first, I rearrange the components in my mind, then move about to rearrange what I see in the frame. I contemplate what may emerge on a two-dimensional surface, how all these elements will come together and how the atmospheric conditions, light, and colours will translate into a two-dimensional image. What emerges from this process is a series of images that hopefully capture the essence of these places and times. For me, the Northern Vortex images are a Time Machine that transports me not just to a point in time but to a place and all the intensity of those days. While looking at these works on the wall, I remember the smells, sensations on my skin and visual intensity of so many moments. I hope there is some universality to the images so that they can evoke in others similar intense moments or experiences, those moments when we feel most alive. I was inspired by the dramatic changes that occur in late winter as the tilting of the earth and the Northern climates are pushed back and forth over the landscape, creating dramatic unpredictable shifts in the weather, and bathing the landscape in extremes. One day the land is dry and thirsty. Next, it is covered in blankets of white.
