Making art, for me, is a magical experience. It has always fascinated me how making a few marks on a sheet of paper can conjure the illusion of depth and distance. I think this was the earliest understanding I had about the power of art, and I still think it is very powerful and important. Taking a few materials and turning them into something special is also very satisfying to me. I try to use materials in ways that shape and expand my ideas and take my work in new directions.

I see composition not only as arrangement, but as a force that carries much of the expressive energy of the work. The power of a composition to move a viewer through the image excites me and I try to organize and structure the work so that it has unity and strength of purpose.

Landscape is the most obvious subject of my paintings and drawings. I grew up listening to my grandfather talk about his farm and the land, and I developed a strong sense of place and a love for landscape as a result. I enjoy the landscape in its many forms and often see things in the shapes of hills, the color of autumn trees, or the light at evening that develop into ideas. However, it is not the importance of the place that interests me, but rather the unending variety of shapes, colors, textures, values, and lines that the landscape offers. I build compositions with those elements in mind and often change or re-invent the image. My goal is to make works that express ideas, moods, or feelings through my interpretation of landscape forms.

Abstract Expressionism has influenced my art and even though I don’t work in the style I find it visually interesting and I take a great deal from it. I have always enjoyed the directness of its use of materials and its concern for formal composition and surface. I like the way brush strokes can express energy or mood or color can be color for it's own sake. Nothing adds more power to works of art than color. Color not only describes objects or light more completely, it also helps express the mood. The color itself--beautiful or ugly--fascinates the eye. The idea that “ the meaning” is not hidden in the subject and not dependent upon past knowledge or understanding of ideas or themes is important to me. It is there before you to like or dislike--a purely visual response to the work. I want my work to have that kind of directness.

That is not to say that subject is unimportant. It remains a major element in my work, but paintings and drawings are not only subjects and ideas. They are real things that have weight and size, and the materials they are made from are important to the unity of the work. I use oil paint for most large works on canvas because the color is rich and the paint can be thinned or used right from the tube. It bends, it covers, it slides on the canvas and it helps me invent colors, marks, edges, and textures. It is a messy but very expressive material. I like to use acrylic on smaller works on paper. It has less substance than oil but works well on the smaller format. I usually work on watercolor paper with acrylic and I find the texture of cold press better for me. Acrylic is fast, and I find I can move through ideas quickly. Watercolor is wonderful for brush work and I often do small studies with them. Many of my artworks are pastels on paper; for me that is the most direct way to work. The color is very rich and the pastel becomes an extension of my hand that lets me make marks intuitively. Because the colors are ready at hand, there is little hesitation in the process of the pastels. People often ask me which thing I like best, and I usually tell them the thing I’m working with at the time. I like them all, but the directness of pastels is hard to beat.

For me, the job is to balance concern for the landscape with the formal issues of art. I try to make work that will stand on its own and not need the help of explanation or guidance. I make work that I like, that moves me first, that makes me grow. I am gratified when others enjoy my work, but not too disappointed when they don’t.