Artist Statement

While I see myself primarily as an abstractionist, my work is inspired by the natural world. Painting the landscape is a way to express the beauty that surrounds us everyday. My intent is not to literally copy nature, but simply to paint an impression of what's in front of me and to convey a certain feeling of what I'm painting -- to capture the colors of an autumn evening -- the fading light -- to portray the quiet, alone feeling of being with nature. These paintings are as much about abstraction as they are about their subject matter. I look at how an abstract element of a landscape feels. To evoke a feeling I have experienced and by means of line, color, movement and form transmit that feeling so that others may experience the same feeling is one of the goals of my work. Over time I hope that I have learned to explore materials openly, freeing myself from the constraints of representing the real world responding to color and composition creating work from both understanding and emotion.

The goals in my work are simple: to enjoy the process of painting and seeing, and to hope to gain an emotional participation from people who view the painting. I see painting as a search for meaning - the meaning of the painting and the meaning of life.