The artist says, "When I moved to Vermont three years ago, I was struck by how large a role the landscape and the weather play here. I learned to take a more active interest in getting outside, back to nature. It seemed natural to take the photos for my portraits outdoors, too. After painting my friend Vanessa shivering in my backyard last November, I remarked to a writer friend that, for the first time, my portrait subject was being visibly affected by the landscape around her, an interesting shift of power between subject and background. He replied, “In the literary world, we call that ‘activating the character.’”
“I thought that was a terrific way to put it. After all, the extreme weather here dictates our
activities, interests, the clothes we wear. How we respond, and how we express ourselves
individually, is a collaboration borne of necessity. These paintings, then, document not only their subject or the situation, but also of that collaboration with nature that defines life in Vermont."
