The Tea House series was inspired by the serenity, and creativity of the Japanese Tea ceremony, so beautifully written about in Ellis Avery's book The Teahouse Fire. Tea is a ritual that gives us a break, a moment of relaxation, a place to share with friends or a quiet moment for ourselves.

I strive to express an emotional landscape, using my feelings to guide the progress. The deep red, magenta, vermilion and warm indian yellow, depict feelings, swirl, travel and energize the work.

Each painting has a "door" (as the teahouse has a door), a transition, an opportunity, a temenos. Some pieces have three doors, leading the viewer into the painting, and back out again. Recently, a red line outlines the doors, putting in an element of definition, a threshold of sorts.

I begin each painting with the mediation of painting thousands of dots of wax. Then after building up many more layers of wax, I scrape back the surface, an archeological process of excavation. Sections of mostly layers of clear wax, utilize the translucency of the material and give a view of underlying layers. The paintings evoke a visceral response with their tactile and lush surface.