Artist Statement

My painting style and use of subject matter has transformed over the  last four decades maturing from a wide influence of established  painterly techniques and varieties of compositional themes. University studies helped direct my artistic path through the careful instruction of influential teachers; Ted  Rand, Irwin Caplan, and Glen Alps of the University of Washington, and  B. Frank Moss, Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College. I paint tight close up themes preferring a close association with intimate objects describing their complexity while drawing attention to their simplicity. I compose my paintings in acrylics on heavy rag content  printers paper. The color is fresh, the technique spontaneous, and the  adhering quality to paper is permanent and long lasting. The  flexibility of acrylics allow me choices; to paint with transparency  like watercolor, or with thicker opaque strokes suggestive of oils. I  don't skimp on color especially with my penchant for descriptive  detail in landscape and seascape portraiture. Most of my paintings  express a dichotomy of objects and their relation to the natural world  balanced within a fabricated existence. Currently, I am engaged with  the refined detail of a variety of wood surfaces, their color  patterns, texture, and abstract natural designs. I use the wood as an  active background contrasted with a foreground of environmental objects like leaves, flowers, shells, pebbles, fruits and vegetables,  as well as man-made objects, described in a trompe-l'oeil presentation.