Alaska

Atigun Pass crosses Alaska’s Brooks Range, a vast landscape shaped by ice, permafrost, wind, and time. Above the tree line, vegetation stays close to the earth and the scale of the mountains can be overwhelming.

I wasn’t interested in painting exactly what Atigun Pass looked like. I wanted to paint what it felt like—the immense scale, the cold light, the movement through the mountains, and the quiet that makes you aware of just how small you are.

Observation 2: Atigun Pass is the second painting in my Observation Series, a body of work that grows from sustained looking—beginning with drawings and photographs made from observation and continuing in the studio, where the memory and experience of a place become something less literal.

Mixed media on cradled board
24 × 36 inches