About

As a representational painter, the animals and figures shift towards whimsy rather than reality. It is a tricky pursuit because if my portrait is too detailed I lose my personal vision but if I stray too far into fantasy then the essential nature of the animal or figure will suffer. This search for the perfect balance between my imagination and photo realism drives each painting and like the carrot before the mule I never quite reach the goal.

My success as a painter lies in the connection my viewers develop with a particular painting. Their emotional reactions and the invented narratives bring me a great deal of joy and is a continual surprise. There are many interpretations and each painting is the sum of an intentional direction and the consequences of the unintentional. Often buried beneath the paintings are the discarded images, ideas, and backgrounds like submerged relics on the sea bed, out of view and unlikely to be resurrected. This process of changing layers and shifting ideas is appealing as I pare down to the essential narrative elements. Art teachers will say to plan first and follow the plan, or as a carpenter, measure twice and cut once, but I am unable to work this way. I am unafraid to obliterate two months worth of work and repaint the image with a different vision in order to satisfy myself.

I continue to seek.