Years ago I read how Motherwell was influenced by the work of James Joyce. Since that time I have been intrigued with the notion that a work of literature could inspire a work of art. To explore this concept a novel with ties to the Southern landscape was needed.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, and later the works of Flannery O’Connor, were chosen for their distinctively Southern voices. Their landscape is full of the innocent that soon realize something is amiss. These paintings, like the stories, are dedicated to the forgotten, stillness that once populated our land.
The paintings are full of lush colors but if one looks closely at the surface they will see that harmony does not always exist. The trees are pushed and pulled across the landscape. They are in a constant state of flux, never resting. The surface has been roughed and textured with knives and other various tools. I want the viewer to see the landscape through the eyes of both the writer and the painter.