First of all, I endeavor to always paint from life. George Carlson once told me, "If you paint from life, you will always paint the truth". Throughout any methods or techniques I develop, the one constant is that the concept and impact of any subject, whether scenic or figurative, are best conveyed while I am actually experiencing them. Though photography is immensely helpful as a reference, the camera has never carried home for me the immediacy and inspiration I felt on site. Somehow the compulsion behind every painting, and even the life origin of every subject, speaks from the canvas best at the moment I personally absorb those elements. This is where I find my focus.
No matter what my subject may be, or what my technique or media, I am really always painting light. Light, nature's sorcerer, gives form and reality to everything in our environment. Theory, color, brush strokes are all just tools to duplicate light. The very emotion a painting emits is just an indication of how light was revealing a given subject at a specific moment. Its elusive, infinite, delicate effects create the continuing challenges of being an artist. As I attempt to master these challenges, my goal is to depict the world not just in a decorative, two-dimensional way, but also in a way that draws the viewer into a more personal understanding of the intricacies of the natural world and our interactions with them. It is in understanding this that we understand ourselves.
As I work to meet those challenges, I find answers to questions related not only to technique, but to life as well. Through this gift of painting I have traveled to destinations I never thought I would reach, while leaving a trail of beauty behind me for others to follow. I hope they do. After all, a gift is meaningless until it is given to someone.