Artist Statement
The reason I paint is because I need to make something, in this case a painting that represents my sensibility, that represents not only how I see, meaning what is beautiful to me, but also how I feel. My feeling is variable and multi-faceted depending on my mood and on what has inspired me to make a painting. What I hope comes across in all my paintings is a feeling of serenity and engagement with the subject of the painting even if the subject is abstract. That engagement is enhanced by classical concerns that have to do with color, harmony and composition, not to mention all the myriad of choices that involve color values, color contrast and saturation, shapes and edges of shapes, the texture of the paint, symmetry of forms all coming together to make the painting convey some emotion that I hope is conveyed to the viewer. In the end, it’s a mystery how a painting comes together if it is at all successful. That mystery can be the great pleasure of the painting effort. I care about a focused intensity that is worthy of contemplation by the viewer and that conveys a sense of serenity and beauty that is a microscopic moment of the deep and cosmic beauty of which we, knowingly or not, are part of as sentient beings in this universe.