Artist Statement

November 30, 2015

As a fauvist-realist, my work reflects the way I see color and movement in life. By executing the work on-site, the elements of the natural world allow me to fully appreciate the raw feel of these urban and rural settings. I capture the subtle variances of colors viewed in our natural surroundings, and express them via gesture and line born from natural tremors in my hands. I embrace these variances, and take advantage of them. Thus, creating the energetic, rich, and vivid lines I seek when applying color, or while carving out the paint. I welcome this natural expression of textured movement, using organic lines to blend colors in my paintings.
I work on unfinished pine surfaces, stained in a variety of colors from deep mahogany to intense fuchsias. As I add and remove color, the surface is reflected in the finished piece, creating a somber, yet energetic, feel. My paintings are prepared fairly aggressively, as I pound layers of similar colors atop each other. Then, I gradually move onto more subtle color effects, gently tapping and blending the pigments with my fingers. The final steps of my process are achieved through adding and removing oil pastel, fusing these different techniques. Ultimately, this develops a refined expression, the finished piece.