The works which comprise my thesis show are oil paintings and drawings done directly from life. The subjects of the works are either still life objects with plants, the human figure with plants and some objects without plant material. The paintings explore a number of the myriad possibilities of light and space offered by direct painting in a particular environment. The still life situations used for my work generally include objects on hand and a variety of plant material. Most of the plants selected are large with a varied leaf or stem structure. The backgrounds include some drapery, white paper and the walls and partitions of the studio area. While a number of objects may be used in any given painting, they are generally dispersed in open arrangements permitting free visual movement from one to the other, corresponding to my intention of treating them as elements of a spatial continuum rather than as distinct entities. The objects themselves are unimportant as subject matter. While exploring what light and space does to objects in a particular environment, I discovered that light can make objects as light or heavy as the negative light-space which surrounds them. A leaf need not appear to be floating if its space and light are such to give it the weight of the leaf's container. The light-space of the environment gives substance to the objects or figures within it. I have also found that light can intensify space, creating a greater or lesser tension or pull between the objects. I discovered that this same activity often carried the movement into the surrounding space
