Animal Lives Redux

 

As a child when my family would take long trips my mother would begin a story then turn it over to someone who would add their inclusions. We would go around and around in the car adding to the story which was sometimes humorous and nonsensical until the story was complete often causing

laughter to ensue.

 

My love of animals and how they have been a constant element tell a story in my layered photo process. While weaving a composition together, I spin a story in my head in the manner of my past car storytelling.

 

I began by using photos of both preserved and living animals encountered on my travels. Combining these images with my landscape photographs in a montage process creates formal portraits similar to the style of portraiture championed in Renaissance painting. 

 

After combining the photos and fragments I add textures, giving them a painterly quality. As I was once a painter, working in this medium is a natural extension of my artistic expression.