Artist Statement  2024

"Nurturing Begets Nurturing"

All things "nature" is at the heart of my work with the goal of serving a reminder the beauty nature offers, the importance of fostering good will and the virtue of benevolent acts.
 
 The infinite diversity nature provides along with my curiosity will keep me a life long student of nature. Additionally I've been a hobby beekeeper for 15 years which provides me a direct conduit to a desire to learn more. From pollinators and their invaluable offerings to vegetation, weather, the sun, the moon and the waters, nature connects all of it.  It's miraculous and is what inspires my work.

The expression "Every picture tells a story" can be a deliberate statement said of my work.  An integral aspect to my work is the title, I then sketch the composition before I put paint to canvas. Often visually whimsical my work at times employ word play along with deeper ideas then what is on the surface. 
Generally the imagery I paint are bountiful and clearly imagined landscapes, inspiring sentiments between animals or my rendition of mother nature.
I'm in the fourth year of continuing my mother nature series.  I've developed a highly stylized and recognizable image of "her."
 It could hardly go unnoticed that I consistently pose this female figure in the same composition.  She is not a portrait of a woman, or even a human being, she's meant as a symbol of mother nature. For this reason I've chosen a specific pose: straight on front or back and squared shouldered, a stance of strength. Elongated neck, the overseer. Non-revealing eyes: mysteriously seeing all.  Cloaked in flora, natures delicate side. Surrounded by pollinators, life.

 I've begun to add "From my Mother Nature Collection" to the titles of these paintings. To date (late 2023) I've sold 83 original paintings of her, Apparently beloved it warms my heart that what she symbolizes continues to find her way into the homes of collectors.

My Process

All images on my site are original oil paintings. 
I enjoy marrying highly detailed elements to abstract elements within the same painting.  I employ a technique using a very oily base of semi-transparent oil paint between layers of oil paint/turpentine.  The two dissimilar ingredients don't mix together, reacting to each much like vinegar and oil.  In ultra thin layers on canvas this painting method creates elaborately rich layers.

Signature to my work is a silhouette aspect, it becomes impactful due to the reverse order I handle imagery,  My first step is to fill the canvas random colors, a blank white canvas a bit intimidating, many artists feel this way including myself.   I paint the subject (Mother Nature, animals etc.) in the first steps of the many layered process then paint the background in the last step(s). My "backward" backgrounds give my paintings negative space interesting shapes, and part of why the silhouette becomes so striking. 

Generally I work on 4 to 8 paintings simultaneously.  Due to layers needing to dry they are all in differing stages of completion. 
The source of my imagery is from my imagination.  Next I do several sketches to determine the composition, from the sketch I begin my paintings in acrylic as it drys very quickly and I can get basic shapes down rapidly.  Most all my work is from my head to hand, meaning I don't use a model or photograph.  I do however use reference materials for details or specifics of images. 

I visualize many aspects of my paintings in my dreams.  My dreams paint better than my hand.  Perhaps I love the following quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson because I can truly relate; "The hand can never execute anything higher then what the heart can imagine".  I aspire to have my hand meet my heart.