The inspiration for Verde comes from Federico García Lorca’s poem Romance Sonámbulo. The paintings in this series were finished while I was in lockdown. Living during the strangeness of those days I found a calming solace in painting and the world of my garden. My thoughts turned to the pools of marvelous color suspended in the background of changing seasons, a palette so vivid it brought back memories of a world I had long forgotten in Ecuador where I was born, memories of walks with my grandfather in his garden where he would tell me tales of the elves and mythical creatures that inhabit our mountains, lakes and forests. Now in my own green haven, it all came rushing back.

 

My garden is a work in progress, a story full of twists and turns. It was inevitable that in those days of uncertainty I would turn to it for comfort. This series tries to capture its sudden disruptions of color, the deep blues of hydrangeas, the myriad, ever changing shades of green, the boastful bursts of yellow and orange in the spring and dry ochre and burnt sienna in the fall. Each brush stroke attempts to recreate the tones and textures and evoke the energy of a natural world. With still lifes or landscapes, the colors spill onto the canvas capturing for me those fleeting moments when the light trails behind me and the memories embrace me – the sense of complete joy.