In my Mapscape Series, layers of mixed maps, geometric lines and paint create new lands. This work explores our need to organize the complex into simplified and our relationship to the natural world. Our environment is a quiet partner in our thought process, and is interwoven with our personal identities. Natural or political events alter the landscape and boundaries in the blink. What stands on the map as final fact is truthful very ephemeral.

These works are so organic, the maps have so much visual input. I often work the collage aspect with a few base colors and leave it alone for a time, so I can approach it with fresh eyes. The collage sits quietly at a point. I like the visual structure. I like the color pallet. The story teller in me wants some small adjustment, one little thing that would lend narrative to the piece.

Time passes as jobs keep me from the studio. When I return, I dive into new drawings, responding to the news of Hong Kong Umbrella Protests and fires raging through CA. Again I address my not quite finished collage piece. The torn and reassembled map pieces present a landscape of mixed places, boundaries destroyed, populations combined and measurements inaccurate. I enhance thwart tones to amplify symbols of fire, fire which also recreates the landscape. I add a thin piece of fresh map to the bottom of the composition. I mark it with five small red circles, the California towns where the fire remains active. This addition infuses the shredded maps with the missing ingredient, intent, little red circles of homes in devastation and lives in transition.