In this “Abstract California Landscape” series, I paint landscapes of various scenery in the San Francisco Bay Area. These places are within an hour’s drive of my home on the Peninsula. They are where I often hike or take nature walks to calm myself or when I need to think.

I simplify each landscape element, focusing on shape, value, color, and texture, balancing recognizable elements of place with expressive mark-making. My process starts on location: sketching, making studies, and taking photographs at various sites around the Bay Area. I use this material to develop larger studio paintings, ranging from 18” x 24” to 36” x 48”. I work primarily in acrylic on canvas. Acrylic lets me layer paint quickly and work with texture and action-based techniques for mark-making. 

I chose this subject because I live in an area with so much inspiring scenery. Within a short drive, I can move between urban settings, bay views, hillsides, and coastline. When I spend time in these places, I feel more emotionally grounded. My paintings are not meant to illustrate specific locations, but rather an attempt to hold on to those moments of solace I experience there. Reducing a landscape to its essential shapes turns out to be the closest I can get to how it feels to stand in one.