So. Bio. Artist’s statement. Whatever.

When I started making art over thirty years ago, I had very little knowledge of technique or colour theory, but I drew constantly anyway because I loved it. Sure, most of it was done in purple crayon and my subject matter was mainly limited to chickens and cats. What the hell do you want, I was two.

In the eighties, my subject matter evolved to unicorns and pegasi, and later to Dungeons and Dragons characters. By the time I got to college, I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. Boy, was I wrong. I found out just how much of a disadvantage it is to go through four years of high school without an art class. Oops.

I was introduced to painting in my sophomore year and fell totally in love with it. I went through a variety of media [oil, acrylic, watercolour, encaustic] and painting tools [bristle brushes, taklon brushes, palette knives, razor blades, hammers] in an effort to find my artistic voice.

I gravitated toward watercolour, which is a medium a lot of people don't like because it has a life of its own. I love it for precisely that reason, that with enough skill you can nudge it just a little bit this way or that, and it does the rest of the work for you. I like my oils and acrylics too, but my real love is exploring watercolour, incorporating other media and trying out unusual substrates such as gessoed CDs and papyrus.

The artists I know seem to prefer my abstract and surreal work; the non-artists seem to prefer my landscapes, which are more accessible but not as satisfying to me intellectually. I like the challenge of figuring out a composition; it's like doing a mathematical proof, but with textures and tones and values instead of numbers. The challenge of achieving realism is different and one that I probably shy away from too much.

Art is my therapy, my relaxation, my scrying mirror. It has been there for me all the times when I couldn’t verbalise what I felt. It has helped me see what’s inside me, and through that has shown me what’s inside others.

I make art because I must. If I don’t create, I get stir crazy. If people want to buy it, that’s fantastic. If they just want to admire it, that’s great too. If nobody gives a crap, fine. But I must make art. It’s just what I do.

So yeah.

Artist Highlights

• ArtWanted.com Gallery:    Fine Art
• Proficient Software:   Paint Shop Pro