©2001 H.M.C.

This body of work was inspired by my sojourn to Mexico in February, 1992. Many of the photographs were taken at Chichen Itza and Tulum (Mayan Ruins) of the Yucatan Peninsula in Eastern Mexico. It was my intention to create artwork that would go beyond a photographic record of a place. By adding colors I would overlay my mood on images inspired by the locations. It is the unexpected colors that cause the photographs to appear as an imagined place removed from reality. The whole show was made of 30 x 40 inch images, all manipulated. I still was a "painter" and that was my canvas size.
The following paragraph is from the 1992 artist’s statement:
‘I create large photographs (30"x45") that express mood. All the images are created in a unique way. A 35mm color transparency is first exposed, then later in the studio I add colored dyes and work them into the emulsion of the transparency. From the manipulated slide a large Cibachrome print is made. Each work of art is a mixing of applied colors with the reality and detail captured in photography. The effect gives the illusion that colored lights where used to illuminate the scene. "Each photograph is a painting, each painting a photograph."