Tracks and Fields
As a denizen of Portland, Oregon, I find our many parks a break from the urban environment. Yet, they are only half natural, a temperate nature, meant for human consumption, rather than the messy and sometimes less attractive nature found in wilder places.
Sports fields retain some of the wide openness of the country, and the less commercial ones are often in parks surrounded by trees. While giving the feeling of nature, these environments are effectively man made. They represent our desire to be in nature without having to deal with nature. In these paintings, I am playing the role of observer and of outsider. I am not a participant in the game, nor am I a participating spectator. Like the parks themselves, I am located in the halfway zone between man-made space and nature.