My surroundings have always influenced my outlook on life and enjoying a connection with nature has been a lifelong pursuit. I see the hand of a loving Creator everywhere and my passion and desire for Him inspires my work and my worship. Faith in Him has helped me respond with joy and freedom to my own creative voice. He is the eternal "Yes".
I have been called an expressionist, and a colorist because I do not subscribe to a literal view of the landscape but use color as a means of expression. The exhilaration of working outside in nature, the joy I feel when doing the thing that I love, my work is an expression of those emotions.
The term ”plein air”, coined by the French Impressionists, refers to painting out of doors. It is my favorite way to work but can be painting at its most raw, pitting artist against the elements, extreme weather, and wildlife, that sometimes includes the public. Evidence of frozen hands dragging stiff paint over the surface of a board, marks in the paint made by rain, or grit blown into the paint layer by wind, this is plein air. In spite of this, or maybe because of it, working outside is its own reward. Dramatic weather and changing conditions add depth to the experience as well as to the work. I have painted in the sunshine at Morro Bay and conversely, in the freezing wind overlooking the harbor in St. John’s, Newfoundland; both were unforgettable. Any day painting out is a good day.
Though primarily a plein air painter, when the brilliant colors of fall have faded and temps drop below freezing I head for the studio to work on larger pieces developed from my studies or sketches. I have been influenced by painters of the American West and Canada, where plein air work has a great tradition, but also by the expressionist painters of the early 20th century. In the last 15 years, I have lived and painted all over the Western US, and for a time in the province of Newfoundland, Canada. Currently, I reside in Colorado, where I am as easily found in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range as I am among the industrial buildings of Alamosa, Colorado. The best part is just being in it - living an inspired connection.
If one
advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and
endeavors to live
the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success
unexpected in common hours.
- Henry David Thoreau