My recent paintings depict rural environments and commonplace objects that arise out of observation, invention, and memory. I see my work as being in a dialogue with American Regionalism and its preoccupation with authenticity, home, and spirituality. Using a straightforward pictorial language of modest means, my paintings are deceptively simple and elliptical in meaning. Touching on themes of impermanence and alienation, my subjects occupy the ambiguous terrain between what is nature and what is human. These scenes are painted with a sense of urgency and spontaneity, although this boldness is often tempered with an intentional rigidity and emotional reticence. They are inventively balanced through skillful execution, yet they are also somewhat clumsy and chaotic, self-aware of their own contradictory nature. What results is a precarious moment charged by the pathos of something flawed and teetering on the brink of failure.