Painting for me is like being tossed from a boat far from shore.  I will die if I don’t make it to the shore before running out of breath.  I struggle with every stroke to survive, choking on water before going down. I’m not a strong swimmer but my survival instincts drive me even as the currents pull me back.  And so, I do; I survive again and again but only until the next raw canvas stares back at me from the easel.

This analogy sounds dramatic I suppose but painting isn’t fun for me, it’s survival.  Without my work, as I refer to painting, I feel I am drowning in the minutia of life.

My career began in watercolors so I am relatively new to oil painting and I am self-taught.  Every day my goal is to get better and I do paint every day.  My day begins and ends in my studio.  One of my first watercolor instructors went around the room asking, “what are your goals, where do you want to see yourself in 5 years”.  I simply answered “I want to be great”.  Everyone laughed, but I have lived that goal.  I am absolutely passionate (some would say, compulsive) about my art and with the conclusion of every painting, which I ruthlessly critique, I say to myself, “the next one will be better”.

My inspiration comes from life’s quiet times.  We are abundantly blessed with glorious images, so many in fact I hardly know where to begin.  The one thing I insist on is that my paintings include life and tell a story.  That is what personalizes my paintings and for me gives spirit to a landscape.