In April 2013, I initiated a project deeply intrigued by the concept of time passing. I was searching for ways to express that visually. One idea was using color change, as colors signal transition for us in various ways; The traffic light from red to green, the many colors in the sky from morning until evening. I attempt to capture the profound beauty that lies in the relentless cycling of nature. I find solace and wonder in the ever-changing seasons, and I wanted to document this through my work.

This is a visual exploration of time's passage in a woodland forest in New Berlin, New York.  I was there on a residency during the spring and noticed the distant hills ever so slightly changing color with each passing day. The glow of reddish pink, as buds formed on the bare trees with a promise to open was pulling me into the forest.  

Capturing the colors was a time-intensive project. At the trailhead, I began walking and counting my steps to space my color collection evenly along the length of the hike and to place me in nearly the same spot on the next walk. I wanted to see how the color at that spot changed from one season to the next. Walking to the beat of numbers being counted in my head, sometimes in muddy spring soil, or crunchy leaves of fall, or thigh high climbing through snow in the winter, it was always a heart stirring experience.

I captured the evolving landscape, taking a photo every 100 steps, resulting in 18 distinct images during each journey. In my studio, I used software to translate a color in each photograph into a paint formulation, yielding 18 distinct colors for that season. Each season gave a unique expression of the incredible spectrum of colors that grace the same location throughout the year.

This project is not just about documenting time; it grew to be about the thoughts and feelings that time evokes—the wonder of nature's cycles, and the vast range of colors that unfold over the course of a year.  The colors became a map, that particular yellow of the daffodils blooming near the creek. The creek that was rushing with water from melting snow in the spring making loud whooshes of sound, which nearly dried up in the summer, gathered some bulk in the fall and froze solid again in the winter.

Each artwork encapsulates a specific landscape's intrinsic hues.  Each season's interpretation stands alone, and when amalgamated, they produce a holistic representation of the entire annual cycle. This project transposes a particular landscape into an abstract construct. As I immerse myself in this work, I'm continually reminded of Josef Albers' wisdom: "There is a profound harmony in the immeasurable spectrum of color."