Artist’s Statement
My approach to my art practice is through drawing and painting, working with both charcoal and oil paint. I start by drawing the model, the landscape, and my surroundings, or I sketch ideas from memory. While on the lookout for interesting locations, their color and light, and space, I take note of the body language of people at labor and leisure. From there, I make drawings that may lead to a new painting series.
Besides visual artists, my influences are poets, writers, the news, movies, dance, and plays. I feel companionship with other thinkers, activists, and makers, anyone who is trying to make sense of our current situation.
In the studio, I am most concerned with the language of paint. I am discovering all the ways in which it can convey light, space, weight, and form. There is a constant struggle to synthesize the qualities of paint with my own intent.
It is often necessary to throw out preconceived ideas, start over, and hope that a painting emerges that rings true.
I hope that my work allows the viewer to slow down and enter the space of the painting: that there is a recognition of something that exists between words and thought and can best be expressed visually.