When walking through the natural world, I am captured by the beauty of a crack in the sidewalk or the pattern of bark on a tree. I enjoy the abundance of color on a foggy morning, delicate arrangements of water and land mass, and the shock of bare winter tree branches against a cold blue sky. People become trees, trees become people. Stones sculpted perfectly by waves fill my pockets on every trip to the sea and later line my windowsills. I am inspired by the subtleties of grey and colors approaching grey. Where is that edge when blue-grey turns into yellow-grey? I marvel at the power of water when I gaze out at the ocean or turn my windshield wipers on extra high. How can something so soft and gentle turn boulders into sand, mountains into mud? How can the patient, cleansing caresses of the wind carve gashes into stone?

In my work, I search for a level of abstraction that balances on the edge of incomprehensibility and tiptoes among misunderstanding. I aim for a point at which any less would make it unrecognizable, any more is superfluous. I use sparsity and lessness as tools to lead me towards this end. Sometimes I use sketches or photos as references, but most often I rely on memory and intuition to create images that are meaningful to me. By some combination of instincts and pure chance, I try to express my ideas in a way that a more methodical and rational approach might dismiss. I often think more about the surface of the work than the image itself, paying attention to texture, pattern, and the way edges meet. By working this way, I hope to portray the reflection of a moment, rather than a representation; one that excludes specificity and leaves all interpretation to the viewer.

There is something archetypical about the natural landscape and human interaction with it. It is as if the answers lie just beyond that line of trees or those rows of waves, and if we stare long enough it will reveal itself in full. My hope is to create this sort of intimate connection with the viewer, a step closer to understanding. I seek to evoke that feeling of looking out into the sea: one of wistful contemplation, introspection, and general peacefulness.

My recent work attempts to distill the bits and pieces of the landscape that are left during this process of observation and abstraction.

jennifernerad@yahoo.com