ARTIST'S STATEMENT

A lot of ordinary things are beautiful or remarkable if you look at them carefully. I try to describe with paint and brushes the things I see. Infinity is everywhere you look. When I'm standing in front of a blank canvas looking at the subject I hope to paint, I feel as if it is the first picture I've ever painted, that I know nothing. The problem is how to simplify and organize the infinite complexity and detail. It's not easy! That's what makes a painting interesting and alive: how the artist has attempted to capture infinity for you. The painting is a record of the decisions he has made - good and bad - in trying to get the essence of the subject. You can see in a painting the artist's working process, and also have his finished description of what he sees. He wants to share with you what he's seen, and he hopes you'll understand what he's tried to do.

After 39 years of painting I still feel utterly humbled ("what am I doing here?!") in front of that blank canvas, but I know somehow I'll come up with a respectable solution, and the struggle is so fun! I work mostly with oil paint, which is a very dense mixture of pigment and a vegetable oil, usually linseed. I paint with soft brushes on smooth surfaced panels that have been sealed with an absorbant primer called gesso. Oil paint dries very slowly, so I have lots of time to change my mind. I'm using materials and techniques very similar to those used 400 years ago. I consider it an honor to work in the old way: just nature, you (eyes, mind, hands-your whole being), and lovely oil paint.

I was naturally drawn to painting, and when I discovered I was good at it, I felt obliged - driven - to use it to describe the indescribable beauty of nature, to honor creation by carefully observing it. My artistic ability was a gift to me, and my art work is my way of passing the gift, another way of looking at the world, on to you,.