Artist Statement: Why I Paint

Every individual who comes into this world finds some outlet, some form of creativity to express their inner world of imagination.  When that imagination is enjoyed by others in the form of a painting or drawing a sense of deep satisfaction is felt by both the artist and the viewer.  A connection is formed.  A bond.  That is why artists create.  When I make a painting I see an image in my thoughts.  I build studies in the form of drawings and then put the image into a full color painting.  This is the beginning of the art process.  Once the painting or drawing is complete I allow the image to speak to me.  To tell me more about itself.  

And a story unfolds.  I write down this narrative.  For instance, when my brother Andy died it left a big hole in my heart.  Then one day, shortly after his funeral  I was driving to work and had stopped at a redlight.  I turned my head to my left and saw school children walking on a sidewalk under a tunnel of peach trees in full pink blossom that fell around them like snow flakes.  The beauty of this image woke my spirit and that is when I felt his presence in the car with me.  He had a message.   I felt it more than heard it.  He would never leave me.  Later I created a painting called A Gift From My Brother.  When I had an art show a woman walked up to me and told me how drawn she was to that painting.  She told me that she had just come from the hospital while visiting her brother who was dying from cancer.  The message had deeply touched her.

Nearly all of my paintings become illustrations for short stories and books I have written.  First I create the art and then I listen to the story.   

Art critics have referred to my works as Mystical Realism.