ARTIST  STATEMENT

     I start each work of art by preparing my canvas or panel with several layers of primer. With each layer I add different texture to create an interesting surface to start a painting, sometimes the texture leads to a painting but mostly it adds to the dimension of an existing idea.

   Once I have the surface prepared I paint on the basic structure of the painting using only light and dark areas. In this stage I mostly use a mixture of burnt orange and blue to create a warm blackish color for the dark areas and leave the primer for the lights.

    With the idea in place I start adding layers of color to build depth of color for the final image. by thinning the acrylics with a varnish I am making them more translucent enabling the colors below it to show thru which creates deeper colors and much more variation in the colors.

    As the painting is nearly finished I start adding thicker paint to give some areas more impact than others. This is the stage where the texture creates the most interest by holding the thicker paint on the peaks while the lower areas reveal the glazing from earlier layers.

   Painting has always been my first passion followed closely by photography. For nearly twenty years, I have been creating works of art in both mediums. I strive to become a better artist with each new painting and over the last few years I have begun to infuse the ideas of each medium to create semi-abstract and abstract paintings based on images found in nature. The subjects for my paintings are taken from images of the places I photograph. they are all about how light falls across a scene and strong interesting shapes.