Sky Circles Statement:
The majority of my work has come out of the directions of highest contrast and drama, where the sun rises and sets—East and West. In beginning the work for my 2014 show entitled REACH, it occurred to me that other than watching passing flocks or vast decks of cloud patterns or celestial bodies in their movements, I hadn’t spent much time looking up—considering what was going on directly overhead. What about the deepest blue of the clear-sky zenith at different times of day and season? I began searching for mirrored domes to view the zenith and immediately realized that I could also view 360 degrees of the horizon—the entire celestial sphere in fact. It felt too easy to be able to capture it all this way. Domed mirrors and fisheye lenses are old technology but they were new to me and to my purpose. I took an 18-inch domed mirror out to the prairie and walked around with it, took pictures, and marveled at the intensely condensed spectrums of horizon, moon, stars—the whole sweep of sky in an 18-inch diameter circle.
Months and many sheets of watercolor paper later my watercolors evolved into the simple, all-sky watercolor circles you see here.