About My Work
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I'm not a prolific painter. I've never felt any raging compulsion to attack a canvas, never experienced any uncontrollable urges to put paint to paper. I paint when I'm moved to paint. I know that's not a formula for impressive production numbers, but all I can offer by way of explanation or excuse is that, after nearly forty years of freelance |
| illustration, the cumulative effect of killer deadlines has served to inhibit any eager rush to the brushes. There are no intentional metaphors in my work. If any are perceived, they are in the eye of the beholder. I paint subjects that have first captured my attention and then triggered some process of imagination and previsualization. Usually it’s an interplay of light and texture that does it. I can be stopped in my tracks by the visual stimulus of a late afternoon sun on a tired old building, when warm light accentuates the grain of its aging wood, and cool shadows define its structural forms. |
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I'm drawn to the shape, color, and textural contrasts between natural and man-made forms, and although I'm not aware of any conscious formula by which I select what to paint, there are threads that, because of individual esthetic predispositions, run through any artist's work. I've been told there is a sense of nostalgia in mine. I think this may be because I feel a certain empathy |
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with the other old ruins I come across. On finding a potential subject, there must be a period of familiarization. There has to be some sense of intimacy established before I can launch into a painting. I don't try to mimic the conditions exactly, or |
| slavishly copy what I see before me. I'm not interested in rendering every splinter in some old piece of wood. Cameras do it better. I try instead to paint in a manner that imparts something of what I feel when I come across |
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| an interesting scene or subject. I try to lay on the paint in a way that will describe to the viewer the character, and the feeling that attracted me to the subject in the first place. I try to paint the | |
| meadow, not just the blades of grass. The subjects I prefer are mostly tranquil in |
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| nature, They benefit from an analagous color scheme and a limited palette. In my opinion, some of my most successful paintings have been duotones involving just an earth color and black. Watercolors and acrylics are my painting |
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| mediums of chojce. I like the luminosity that happens when light is reflected, not just from the surface of the painting, but also from the brilliant white surface of the paper itself, through the layers of transparent color - much the way a stained glass window achieves its vitality. | |
| What motivates me to paint one subject over another, how I paint, and with what medium, are questions I don't spend a lot of time on. The truth is, I'm a little wary of that phenomenon where too close an examination of something changes that which is examined. I've become relatively comfortable with what I produce - or, at least, less dissatisfied - and I don't want to mess anything up at this late date.I will say, though, that a subject often dictates the the medium, the style, and the technique with which I approach it. If I tried to fit everything into one signature technique, not only would I miss many painting opportunities, I'd also miss a lot of chances to recharge my batteries by trying something different. |