I believe there are things we are compelled to do, from the core of who we are, despite having every reason not to. Ever since I was a child I have been enthralled with the concept of “Art” this magic indefinable thing that people do in our world but nobody understands. My intention is to participate and contribute to art and the process of art making for the rest of my life because there is nothing I would rather be doing. I would like my work to connect with my audience on some emotional level even if they do not understand it. I am fascinated with mythology, philosophy and working with ideas, concepts and insights into human nature and how we think.

My work starts by stewing over some big idea, or concept that is far too complex for me to understand then I do the sketches and studies to start working on the piece. The last step and my favorite part is going through the creative process and working with the unpredictability of the materials. I find that as I physically work with the material, to make it articulate the idea, I learn more about what I think about the subject. My work has been influenced by family expectations and the impact of teaching figures in my life. I do not have a favorite painter or style because there are things that I like and dislike about all artwork. I am more concerned with what I can take away and learn from a work of art then whether or not I like it. I find myself opposed to the limitation of working in a single medium because I like to use the characteristics of a wide range of materials as part of my process. I work with graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, oil paint, woodblock print, gold leaf or whatever else I feel like playing with. Besides the little individual techniques for the application of each medium the most crucial element thus far is working with the relationship of the layers of different mediums.

My current work is very much about process, layers of complexity, and development. Conceptually I am thinking about broad topics and issues that relate to the human condition such as life cycles, and it is a meditation on layers of complexity coming together as a whole. When I was younger I was much more about realism and accurate depictions of items and things but as I have matured artistically my imagery has become more of a distortion or manipulation of a reality. I am at the point now where I want to really push my images and work in a more abstract style so that I can move away from forms associated with the “real world”.