When I listen to the news or read the papers I’m made aware of so much that is ugly in my world, and so I find myself actively seeking beauty every day - beauty in mind, heart, ear and especially eye. If through my gift of painting I can share that beauty that catches my attention with another person, maybe I can be a source of joy in my world. I suppose my goal is just that, to create something that becomes a source of joy, of delight and pleasure.
Oil paint is my current medium. I love its richness and sensual qualities as it’s applied to the canvas. While my work is representational, I love exuberant brushwork and exuberant colors. I appreciate the contrast of hard and soft lines, the juxtaposition of busy and quiet strokes, and the interaction of bright and muted blocks of color.
I paint in a representational, almost graphic way. I love to render, and I love to render things that catch my eye. So you will see I do florals, figures and faces, street scenes, landscapes and still lifes of objects that interest me – I like to paint whatever I see that makes me stop and look closer, whatever catches my attention. Attention is everything – what we attend to, we strengthen. It all starts with that.
Then I try to understand what it is about what I’m seeing that has caught my attention. Is it a shape, or a color or a play of light? Is it a puzzle of lights and darks that make up the overlapping riot of petals in a blossom? Is it an interaction between people, a look on someone’s face or an arrangement of objects that speaks to me, and why does it speak to me? Why did I stop and look? The answer to that question is what I try to paint.