Click image for full-size view First and foremost, I am a poet. I consider the paintbrush and the images laid upon canvas as an extension...perhaps an evolution...of the written word. Both are interdependent on each other - painting and poetry - to convey a message, tell a story, express a sentiment, or construct a saga.
Many years ago, I began painting, first with watercolors, then acrylics, and then in 1999, I stopped. Almost 9 years later, I picked up the brush, grabbed some acrylics and began a new adventure. With moral support from friends and family, I started painting. The first piece I began and then completed, 'The Philogynist,' is based on a poem I had written that would be the first words of the novel of the same name. The novel, of course, has yet to be written. "The Philogynist" hung in January 2008 at the Upstate Artists Guild gallery on Lark Street (www.upstateartistsguild.org).' In 2008, I was shown at UAG five times.
I have shown in Troy, as a part of a UAG exhibit, and at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Albany. Most recently three pieces have been shown at the Midtown Tap and Tea Room.
I have over fifty pieces completed. Some I have done for people specifically, some I do for myself, and some are available if anyone has an interest.
Influences include both William Somerset Maugham and the subject of his novel, The Moon and Sixpence," who is based on Paul Gauguin. I am influenced by Picasso, Kubrick, the Beat Poets, women whose minds and bodies I have adored intimately and from afar. My art has been called primitive, and I embrace that.
Unschooled, instinctive, voracious and driven, I consider myself an American Primitive in the world of art. A barbarian. Poetic and passionate in between thought and expression. | 
