I seldom begin a painting with any particular goal in mind.  I often start by simply loading a brush with a color of paint that appeals to me at that time and making a stroke on the canvas or panel surface.  As I react to the form of that stroke, the way it divides the canvas, the weight of the stroke, the emotional impact, I lay down the next stroke, either in the same color or in a different color.  The entire painting evolves in that manner, in a series of reactions to the previous collection of actions. 

Throughout that process the visual and emotional elements that I have collected during my lifetime of observation, as well as, I suspect, elements that are in the genetic evolution of the human species, all play a part in determining each new step. 

Ultimately my paintings are simply explorations, interpretations and expressions of the world around me and within me.

Now, I will say that I do love the New Mexico landscape.  I will say also that I love to look at just about any landscape or cityscape or room interior or the food on my plate!  That is what I do.  All that information is continually filed away, sometimes only reappearing years later.  I often don’t even remember a particular inspiration when I am painting.  Then sometime later I might see something in the landscape that will make me exclaim, “Oh yes, I painted that last year in such and such a painting, something like this must have inspired that work.”  I seldom have a particular reaction that I am hoping for in a viewer.  Rather, I would like for the viewer to experience a different awareness or way of seeing, perhaps it could be called visual vocabulary, through seeing my work.  

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