I am intrigued with the relationship that we have with the river – the interplay of the natural components of the river with the things we introduce into it, both the tangible and intangible. In seemingly untouched, pristine places I find traces of ourselves everywhere. I am drawn to distortions created by the river on objects and our own perceptions, ourselves, and the rivers themselves. I am motivated by the need to find the ways I am integrated within the greater landscape in which I find myself and to develop a sense of place, a sense of belonging. The Beautiful Trash series focuses on specific ‘incidents’ or place and object events.  By working in groupings of paintings, I can refer to change by incorporating the concept of time with the medium of painting. Each individual painting within a grouping represents a distinct point in time, but grouped with its counterparts, the paintings begin to tell the story not only of the physical shifting nature of light and water on a particular object in the river, but also the shifting nature of the focus of our own attention as we observe that object throughout a length of time.