Simplicity and complexity commingled. Underneath and inextricably connected to every beautiful and seemingly simple scene is an underlying complexity of shape, color, and tonal relationships. First of all I wonder, "How can I still my mind and heart enough to observe this sublime scene before me?", and secondly, "What will it take of me to try and paint these observations?" While painting, I try to keep in mind both polarities - the simple and the complex, while painting honestly and directly. I find that for me the challenge in painting is combining how something really looks, the more scientific view with the interior or poetic view.

Whether I am drawing from a human model, still life, or painting outdoors, I feel most alive when observing and inquiring directly into the world around me. I don't try to impose any particular artistic systems as I paint, nor am I necessarily trying to depict exactly what is before me. Rather, I think of the painting process as participating in two simultaneous conversations; one with the world and another with the scene that I am observing. Here I try to have a strong and vital conversation with nature. The other conversation is with the painting, the demands of design, drawing, pigment, and all of the other well-known issues of working on a two dimensional support. If I am fortunate, when the painting is completed, I will have had the benefit of two terrific conversations. As an artist, I am drawn to the simple beauty of everyday scenes with the knowledge that beneath this apparent simplicity is an underlying and complex set of shapes, color, and tonal relationships. I have studied with a great many excellent teachers who have advocated knowing just what to do and exactly how to make things look, but I prefer not to know, but to discover and explore along the way. Although this attitude is usually associated with abstract or expressionistic art I have found that it is equally valid in representational art and is a source of great comfort.

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