I always envision my kites as paintings set free!

The kites are light and fun, and yet are definite original works of fine art both technically and conceptually. They are extensions of some concepts that I’ve been exploring in my paintings for a number of years now.

The idea developed from a series of paintings in which I was dealing with what it would feel like to soar. This gradually led to the subject of kites and I did about twenty paintings that abstractly captured this type of spiritual and emotional soaring and whose titles involved kites. Finally, I decided to experiment with what would happen if I made these works into actual kites---fine art kites which maintained the quality and vibrancy of a serious piece of art, but which also captured a spirit of play.

Like my other mixed media artwork, a kite begins with a combination of watercolor, acrylic airbrush, pencil and pastel on paper. I use professional quality paints and techniques on 100% rag paper so that the work will maintain its colors and so that the paper won’t yellow or disintegrate -- at least for as long as we can foresee. The media are applied sequentially to provide rich color with lots of subtleties. However, once the kite body is completed and sealed, rather than framing the work, the paper is mounted on a bamboo frame and completed with a tail which reflects the painting and the subject.

The imagery often revolves around a theme but, like the paintings, expresses concepts of light, color and emotion, as well as a harmony of shapes and rhythms.

The kites are light and fun. They are serious artistic works, but are also designed to inspire a spirit of play and feeling of space. Indeed they are often like having a rainbow in the room.

Kites sizes range from large (57" x 37" + tail) to kitelets (13" x 9" + tail) with several sizes in between.