Layers and Secrets: In our modern, chaotic world, the need for quiet, contemplative space drives people to search for solace in hidden places. My oil paintings feature shifting layers of thick impasto paint which surround, yet offer entry into a mysterious space suggestive of refuge and peace. The richness of colour and thickness of the paint layers underscore the material qualities of the paint itself. The painting process is a long one, characterized by constructing, developing, often destroying and reconstructing visual fragments of ideas.