WHY YOU MAKE YOUR ART, WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO MAKE IT, WHAT IT SIGNIFIES OR REPRESENTS, WHAT'S UNIQUE OR SPECIAL ABOUT HOW YOU MAKE IT, and briefly, WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU.
Art is both uniquely person and universal. It is intimate and public
The macrocosm in the microcosm.
A good painting should express something of the artist and the world as they see it. It should inform and transform the artist and the viewer.
A picture only becomes art when it occupies the imagination of the observer.
In quantum physics, an act of observation can change the world. So is it with art.
Among my strongest influences are the Renaissance Italians, the early Flemish, and the surrealists. All these artists painted detailed, naturalistic images while telling a story or conveying an implied meaning. I try to do the same.
My style of art is realism, usually paintings in oils or colored pencils, or graphite drawings. My work is highly detailed to show the connectedness of nature in the large and the small. I paint in a layered approach using transparent glazes over a colored underpainting. Each layer adds vibrancy, detail, depth and presence. My art is inspired by the incredible beauty and intracacy of the natural world, and by the richness and power of the human spirit.
Art has always been a major part of who I am. Growing up in the New York City area, museums and libraries were a big influence on my development. Largely self-taught, I began painting in oils in my early teens. Although my professional career took a technical bend, I have always drawn and painted. My style is detailed realism. I tend to do series of subjects; for example I frequently show hawks or orchids, and I'm working on a series of hands playing musical instruments. I've studied under or taken workshops by Marge Colavito, Debbie Howard, Bet Borgeson, and Bonnie Auten.