Some of my abstract works are purely non-subjective. There was no intent on my part to represent anything concrete. Sometimes I may be representing a concept or feeling abstractly, or a subject may be suggested by the work itself when the painting is finished. The viewer is invited to interpret the work as he or she likes.
Other abstract works clearly derive from a subject and are portrayed with greater or lesser amounts of realism. Sometimes the realism veers into surrealism with mystical, humorous or imaginative elements. Because the line between abstract and realism is a matter of degree, some pictures are show in several galleries.
Starting with camping and hiking with my family as a child, the natural world has played a very important role in my life. As a painter, I am drawn to the moods and colors of the natural world, and to how the natural world and its human inhabitants interact.
The smaller aspects of our world often are as large in impact on us as the most dramatic mountain range or river canyon, and so it is a delight to portray the beauty of an ear of homegrown corn, or the personality of a friend’s pet.
Portraits that capture an element of the personality as well as the features of an individual can be the most challenging and satisfying of my work. Portraying ways we humans connect with each other and our world offers me more freedom of expression, and brings its own creative reward.
