When I see something that stops me in my tracks, I MUST share it! Something beautiful that's poignant, humorous* (visual puns and word plays), awesome, ironic, or tragic will stop me everytime. I have thousands of reference photos (details, composition, etc.),but only a few that show what I felt, so I paint because it allows me to create what I felt and share it. My favorite works are plein aire, but because animals and light effects are gone before I could set up an easel, most of my work is studio.

 I enjoy painting in all genres, but I prefer landscapes and I don't believe in using recipes for composition. For example, some of my works don't have a tight focus on purpose, as in "The Day (I saw the bear)" where my goal was to share the feeling of an incredible day I had. I paint in a realist manner (though people tell me I'm impressionist) and my goal is to capture the light and essence of the detail without painting every grass blade. When I get it right , the detail vanishes when you look closely. A six year old lady I know says I do "in the middle of nowhere" paintings, which made me realize that quiet, non-crowd situations are a common theme in my work. I pick my titles to show where I was going with the painting but I hope you see and connect with other things in them.

 Richard Schmid and his "Alla Prima" book are easily the strongest influence on my technique, though now that I've seen some major works in real life (in the Cleveland Museum of Art, the difference texture made in van Gogh's "Poplars" compared to a print, and feeling the emotion in The Heroic head of Pierre de Wiessant  compared to a photo (from Rodin's Burghers of Calais), astounded me!) museums will be having a larger role in my development.

 My preferred tool is a palette knife, though I use assorted brushes, a 00 round brush for fine detail, and whatever else that works for certain effects (little fingers are great for this, too). My palette is limited because knowing intimately how my colors interact allows me to paint faster. I have six main colors (ultr. blue deep, Windsor green, yel. ochre lgt., cad. yel. med., tran. red oxide, and terra rosa) and several optional colors I'll switch for specific paintings. My black/grey range is based on ultramarine deep and transparent red oxide (sometimes on perm. aliz. crimson and Windsor gr.) and my greens are based on Windsor green and transparent red oxide.

  If you'll be in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area, please make an appointment, via the contact page, and I'll be happy to show my works.

  Thank you for sharing some of your time with me!

* I was waist deep, fishing, when the pelican swam up 12ft from me. I took some reference photos, and thinking it would scare it away, resumed fishing. Hooked a small trout on the first cast and the pelican started running across the water, trying to steal it from me!