The Rocks of Rhode Island

During an extended stay on the Rhode Island coast last fall, I was inspired by the rocky beauty of its beaches and fields to pivot from my ongoing figurative work. 

The project unfolded gradually as I started to collect rocks during my daily beach visits, carrying home more than 60 rocks over the course of my stay.  I traced their shapes using paint and various drawing materials, even occasionally a stone’s edge.  

Holding each rock with my hand as I moved brush and pencil around its contours added a tactile dimension to my painting process. I felt connected to their millennia-long stories and curiously even to the unknown artist who traced her hand over 40,000 years ago on the wall of the El Castillo cave.

Creating The Rocks of Rhode Island was joyful and transformational experience that yielded an exciting and substantial body of work. The paintings came back with me to San Francisco; the rocks were returned to the beach.

Behind the scenes with The Rocks of Rhode Island.  

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