Artist's Perspective

Subject Matter

The natural world is such an awe-inspiring endless array of changing conditions, even in one spot. A change in atmospheric conditions can render something ordinary into something spectacular in an instant, and take it away just as quickly. Dramatic light, or a storm, sets completely different moods. Any one thing is a thousand things in one. I am forever awed and inspired by the world around me, and the life that is in it. There is no such thing as boredom in a world that is so diverse, and so spectacular. The most I can ever hope for is to capture but a fraction of what I wish to share, even in a lifetime of painting. So I will create as much as time will allow.

When I paint, I seek to capture that essence of a person, place or thing that combines their intensity with simple elegance, and translate that to the viewer. I believe every instance possesses both of these qualities, whether grand or simple in theme. Though I strive to instill that intangible quality to my work, equally important to me is the more aesthetic "nuts and bolts" of a project. Proper values, hue, composition, conformation......... what to leave in, take out, add in, or rearrange — they are all of importance to the finished work, no matter what the subject.

 

Technique

Though I drew exclusively with graphite and charcoal for most of my youth, eventually I wanted more color in my creative endeavors. I moved on to colored pencils, and I was content with that for a short time. I progressively wanted more control over color depth and richness, so I decided to try soft pastels. This is a lovely medium, and I honed my techniques with them for years. I learned to use them in a painterly fashion, blocking in color shapes and shadows, then adding more detail toward the end. I discovered archival sanded paper, which I use almost exclusively for pastels now. It is a surface that allows me to build up rich color like no other surface that I have worked on. I have it cut to size, and heat sealed onto acid-free foam core, which gives me a fine rigid support that is great to work on. The finished paintings are full of rich color, with a velvet-like finish unattainable from any other medium.

Oil painting is my "other" favorite medium. I connected to it immediately as a form of expression for my art. The incredible versatility oils offer me is endless. I can glaze, scrumble, use palette knife or brush for variation in my paintings. Every oil painting I produce feels like a new adventure to me, and I always feel as if I've discovered some new treasure in the making of it.