The Hanging Gardens of Tazekka

Painting with Collage on Panel, 30” x 40”, 2022

You know when you look into a tree, especially in the bright afternoon, and see bits of light filtering through the leaves? You know that beauty? It's the essence of what I am trying to capture in my painting. The diffusion of light that pools into colors. The shapes that the light makes getting through all those leaves. That's what I love. Everything breaks down into shapes of colors. I have been influenced by Pierre Bonnard. He was part of the Nabi painters, a post Impressionistic period in the early 1930s. I once was an art copyist at the Met and got assigned to study two of Bonnard's pieces. It is impossible to copy his works. His brush strokes are sporadic. But for 2 semesters I stood in front of his works and tried to do just that. I hope that lovers of this style will feel the warmth of those trees and sunlight.