Statement

Artist Statement

This work is a pursuit of essential aspects of the wild Maritime Pacific Northwest, and a search for powerful locations where deep connection with nature can happen. Pristine water plays an important role, with its ability to restore and sustain on so many levels: physical, emotional, spiritual and metaphoric. Also important are the native light with its uniquely regional palette, the indigenous flora from the mighty to the delicate, and the foundational rock that cradles it all. These images should be experienced as intimate portraits of sacred places  as opposed to pictorial landscapes. I have spent years exploring the Northwest landscape to find the sites that resonate most strongly with my interest, especially the Olympic Peninsula and the Northwest Coast. I paint plein air studies in oil and in watercolor, make sketches and shoot countless photos. Final larger works are done in the studio. With no intention of creating abstract paintings, more and more I find myself drawn into the abstract image behind, or underpinning, the composition before me. Therein resides the mysterious power of the work that defies verbal description and is best conveyed by marks and pigment.

David Dickinson, 2016