I approach landscape as observation, ritual and metaphor.  Drawn to the margins and the mundane, I find poetic engagement in common everyday occurrence.  I began to notice the snow heap in the parking lot outside of my studio window as this past winter's recession grew in magnitude. Returning to observe and paint it regularly, the focused practice helped me to cope with the stunning details of so many jobs and fortunes lost.  The accumulation and variable nature of the pile described in a restricted palette on recycled paper bags became its own meta phor for this time."