ABOUT MY ARTWORK

I came back to painting at a time when some people think about ending their productive lives. I have created my life several times, and this has been the best so far. Drawing and painting have permitted me to open my inner life and my connections to the world and to the people and places I love. I affirm life and celebrate beauty, but in 2007 my muse asked me to show the contrasts in the world: the modern sublime, where beauty and terror combine. My work continues to tell about the awe and wonder the eye can see, but it now looks further afield to enter the ranks of artists who speak out about the world.

I am engaged with modern issues of color and composition within a contemporary realist context; the paintings say "look at what I see." And despite commercial pressures I still refuse to allow or make reproductions of my art.  They are original works in every sense of the word, and my collectors can rely on that.

I paint because ...I am infatuated by the look of the real world and because I am thrilled by the process. I love the feel of the brushstroke; I even like the washing up after a session. I use strong composition, color, and line. There is movement, intensity, energy, and an edge that reflects my strengths and my unique "take" on the world.

I became enamored of acrylics when I discovered what I could do with color on color, with glazing, and with quick repair. I like to work with a basic palette, but I premix the particular hues, values, and saturations I want for a specific painting, adding and changing as I paint.

After finding that plein air (outdoor) painting doesn't suit me, I developed a way of painting in which I use my camera as a sketchbook. I create the composition, sometimes combining elements from several photos. Once I decide on the proportions I translate that to the size and shape of the stretcher bars for the canvas. Recently, news photographs have become models for some of the elements of the paintings.

I rely on color theory and my own instincts to tell me what to do. I go back again and again while I am working on a piece until it captures my vision. I remain a representational painter because the beauty of reality, no matter good or bad, still holds my attention. While my subjects cover a wide range of images, the paintings are unified by my eye, as beholder. I am pleased that some of my paintings are described as beautiful, and that people sometimes say "Wow."