You Can't Be Something
You are not.
















Artist’s Statement
I want what every artists wants, good design, composition, values and color, brushwork, space, edges, a story to tell, and something I am interested in painting and something the viewer can relate to.

Right now I am working on a Recipe Series where I paint ingredients from cookbooks. Sometimes I paint all of the ingredients and sometimes I let the title suggest what the ingredients are and leave it to the viewer to fill in what they know from experience.

I always start with the title and the story I want to tell. I find the props, work out the composition, and make value and color studies before I begin. I concentrate on paint quality, dramatic lighting, focal point, interesting negative shapes, space, and edge relationships. Always on the top of my mind is what do I want to know, discover or concentrate on for each new work. I ask myself what do I want to find out about the subject, the process of painting and myself? To me this is the most important part of the painting experience. This is where learning and change takes place and the reason I paint.

Finishing a painting is most enjoyable not because it is done, but because I add the small parts that pull the work together. There is a slight sense of sadness when I finish a painting so half way through the current work I start thinking about the next one, the title, story, and so on.