Artist’s Statement

Painting representationally has always allowed me to process my experiences in the world. The painstaking methods I use in painting and drawing make for an image that has been “slow cooked”, and a balance of observation is always mixed with elements that flow into the work from my imagination. My time in the studio often, and ideally, feels like a meditation that is enhanced by the concentration that is given to the many processes of fabricating an image.

My studio practice is a time of quiet introspection, a place away from the nattering and noise of the world outside. The development of a painting or drawing is like a moment that has been extended in time, something like suspended animation, though I am allowed to toil away with my ideas and my craft.

The still life paintings are all about something. The arrangement of the various objects on the table is somewhat like the location of actors on a stage or a still from a movie.  Each has it’s own mark, it’s place to stand, and each has a role to play in the larger presentation.

I think an explication of the meanings I imagine in my works would become a limiting factor to those spending any time with one. The stories, such as they are, are more for me, and don’t play out in a narrative progression that tells a cohesive story. A responsive viewer may get a sense of a mood that I wish to convey in the work, and that is closer to the real intent behind their making.