Any day that I’m working on a painting, makes that day a masterpiece.  When I paint I’m in another world. My attention is so focused that I lose track of time, personal concerns disappear, and external circumstances no longer matter. I’m very grateful for this deep and extremely exhilarating sense of enjoyment, day in, day out. Discovering creative solutions for each piece, and problem solving is where much of my joy from painting originates.  

I frequently use design elements such as line, color and texture, but my focus is shape. When I understood the logic of composing with shapes, my painting took a quantum leap forward. I‘m a shapemaker. Sometimes, turning the painting upside down reveals some adjustments needed to really make the shapes mesh. Especially from this vantage point, the art is visible in the pattern, rather than in the objects and details themselves.

In fact, some collectors of my work seem to get more enjoyment from mystery than details because the areas of the paintings that I intentionally leave vague allow the collectors to conjure up their own images, and bring their own interpretations and stories. Consequently, they see something new each time and enjoy the painting for years to come. That means my paintings are interesting, not just “pretty”. I also want them to look fresh with loose brushwork and dynamic composition.

Although I sometimes paint entirely from imagination,  I usually pick a photograph or sketch as a spark to “jump-start” a painting. Then I use my memory and  imagination to swing my creative door “wide-open”. The great painting teacher, Robert Henri, said it best, “A work of art is not a copy of things....An artist who does not use his imagination is a mechanic." I’m definitely not the mechanical type!

For example, my photo of a couple dancing alone in a room may well end up as a block party scene painting. I'll change the time of day, add or subtract people, merge and invent shapes, and exaggerate certain aspects to better express how the subject matter feels to me. In other words, like a stage director, I have the courage and conviction to build my own scene rather than copying what I see.

To compose and paint with such creative freedom, I maintain strong drawing skills. To keep visually attuned, I carry a sketchbook with me at all times, drawing images from everyday life with the deliberate practice of an athlete or musician. I’m a “sketch hunter”. Sketching a diversity of people, places and things for decades has given me a vast pictorial inventory to paint from memory, and the confidence to take on any subject that appeals to me.