About My Work and My Creative Process

My paintings and collages are conversations with myself, attempts to understand my place in the world, and my responses to life in front of me.

I’ve long been drawn to densely tangled, barren, and decimated terrains and seascapes that evoke existential discomfort. Images that work their way into my art come from lands I’ve visited, books I’m reading, television news, and simple experiences from my daily life.

Thick oil paint and torn, jagged shards of paper exhilarate me as they interact, coming together in ways that often surprise me. I find change exciting, and tend to constantly re-work pieces, causing them to have layered intensity. I'm always interested in process, how a work evolves, and value work that shows the the pentimenti and history of its coming into being.

So many artists inspire me and continue to nourishe my spirit and soul,. Their work allows me to feel part of a tribe and tradition greater than myself: Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Max Beckmann, Lucian Freud, Giorgio Morandi, Leon Kossoff, Gerhard Richter, Richard Diebenkorn, Forrest Bess, Milton Avery, Marsden Hartley, Sidney Nolan, Johannes Kjaraval, Andreas Eriksson, Mamma Andersson, Wendy Gittler, Janice Nowinski, Matthew Wong, James Merlin, Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig – just to name a few…