The Green Valley, oil on canvas, 42″ x 26″, 2023.

The Green Valley is a medium size painting in oil on canvas. Finished in 2023, it is Surrealist in style. The idealized houses, roads, and trees are more symbolic than real. They create an image of a symbolic suburbia. The lines of this surreal landscape lead to the church in the distance. It’s position emphasizes the importance of religion in contemporary suburban culture, while its small size places it in perspective.

The reds and whites of the houses contrast in color with the greens and blues. The reds and whites are brighter in the foreground and get darker and bluer as they recede. The same can be said of the grass and the trees. Objects also get smaller. In the immediate foreground a man is fishing on a pier. His jiggling bobber creates perfectly round concentric ripples in the smooth water. We can see runners, a cyclist, and a dog walker on the serpentine roads. The shape of the roads is more symbolic than real. This use of symbols is used to express meaning and create compositional harmony rather than rendering the outward appearance of the subjects.