The vessels that transport people—a car, a fishing boat at rest—become great storytelling devices.

A racetrack. A spectacle. Something frozen in time?

The experience exists in the modern era but is increasingly archaic or nostalgic.

Racecar is a palindrome. The word itself has nice balance and handling.

As the events of summer 2020 unfolded, my painting sessions expanded into themes of immigration (Pyramid - ‘this site cannot be reached’) and sociopolitical uprising (Droplets - masked & bloodied journalist imagery, available online). The pyramid began life as a thrift store blanket, its surface reminding me of faraway sand dunes or ‘lost’ places. The painted beach scene features fishing boats from a village in Morocco, and an embedded poem based on prior travels there. The Droplets painting features nearly hidden pieces of lavender from my garden encased in paint and resin as a gesture toward serenity or rising above.

The racecar driver portraits (Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Danica Patrick, among others) aim to situate racecar driving in geology or the stars. The texture throughout the motorsports-adjacent pieces mimics soil, decay, and regrowth. I think about fossil fuels as a passing flame or chapter in history - soon to be layered over in the earth’s compression. Hopefully things get better.