A dream walks in like an animal. - Carl G. Jung                                                          

For as long as I can remember, animals have had a very strong presence in my life. Whether in my waking life or in the dream realm, I am surrounded by animals I love, admire, respect and at times, also fear.   I have learned from these animals about my own nature, and about theirs. Over several years I felt the need to paint these animals presences, as my way of expressing concern about their well being, and our own. These paintings portray both the imaginal dreams of animals, and the animal spirits that have visited me, via dreams or visions. These forms and qualities are derived from an unconscious lens; dreams, the unexpected, and the transformational. Because they arise from such uncharted territories, they may raise questions of origin, cultural expectation, authority, power, and balance.          

To convey the transparent, overlapping nature of the imaginal realm, I paint in superimposed layers that can float independently, or meld together with the other layers to create unexpected forms. I have listed the layers involved in the Animal Dreams paintings. This series includes mixed media oil paintings on hide, canvas, wood and paper.

Animal Spirits: The animal spirits refer to the fleeting , ephemeral, animal spirit. These spirits may be experienced in rituals, dreams, and on shamanic journeys. They embody the essence of the animal and it's spirit.

Bones: Painting the animal in skeleton form is both shocking and alarming because of the association with death. This is important because if we are causing the extinction of various animals and plant life, we should be uncomfortable with this type of imagery, rather than to be able to simply dismiss it. Because bones are the part of the body that does not obviously decay, bones are thought of symbolically representing immortality. Bones have been viewed in many cultures as a symbol of resurrection and reanimation: comparable with the symbol of the chrysalis form which the butterfly emerges. Seen in this way, the bones reanimate the life of the animal; suggesting the cyclical nature of all things.

The juxtaposition of the whimsical dream elements to the animal skeletons painted onto the animal hides creates a startling quality that also exists in the realm of dreams. The purpose of this is to allow the works to remain as events, rather than being reducible to objects with particular meanings. As in dreams, there are no answers in these paintings, only relationships, suggestions of what has been, and what might be.