Artist Statement
In the studio, I surround myself with canvases of all sizes. I put mounds of paint on my big glass palette, pick up a painting knife and create seemingly random, textured surfaces on the canvas. The layers and layers of paint become the foundation for a painting’s background. Next comes opaque color; underlayers of paint “peek through”, suggesting something hidden and offering depth and visual interest. The shapes inspire the subject; they always become the painting that they are supposed to become.
I paint what I love: adult beverages, the musical instruments of jazz, strong coffee. I paint in a bold impressionistic style. I love thick, juicy paint, loose shapes, the smell of the studio. I paint because it fills me with a sense of well-being, of belonging, of total “be in the moment” consciousness. I am never closer to myself than at those moments.
Although shape, color and tone are my focus, for me the subject is important in that it also carries emotion and mood. But the shapes and colors are what draw me in; the bigger, the bolder, the better. The palette knife demands that I paint large shapes. The ongoing experiment with color invites me to be bold.