The first portfolio consists of paintings taken directly from life, painted before and after my arrival at UM

The second portfolio groups paintings that are imaginative or adapted from works by other artists, done during my second semester at UM.

The third portfolio contains my current work of representational images. The following is my artist statement concerning them.

I make oil paintings on stretched canvas covered in a dark/neutral ground. I start out by sketching images in vine-charcoal from multiple photographs, distorting and changing whatever content I choose. I apply the paint in an impressionistic manner, fairly thick and blocky without much medium. The painting develops from back to front and lighter paint overtop darker paint, breaking up large flat areas with smaller swatches of paint. Multiple layers of paint accumulate as the painting develops with a trial and error approach. The images are colorful, neither muted nor excessively contrasty. I spend a lot of my time working on capturing appropriately exaggerated colors, concentrating on the warmth and coolness of colors according to light source and shadows.

I paint human figures in suburban landscapes. The images depict people in various poses: investigative restful, walking, running, surprised, violent. The landscapes are filled with the things from normal suburban life, houses, streets, driveways, yards, trees, bushes, and an often stormy sky. I paint strong raking shadows, indicating that the scene is set at the ends of the day. I like to create drama and a sense of story with a tangible emotional tension about the figures, landscape, and sky by manipulating the colors, lighting, and poses.

I believe that art is a means of understanding. The visual arts have to do with aesthetics, skill in creation, and a certain human element in both creation and depiction. I also believe there is more to the world than what we see. Art can be a means of searching and discovering that. Because of the Bible’s revelation of God and human character, I am interested in its relevance to modern day life. The Bible is a narrative account of God’s interaction with humankind. I believe that people connect strongly with story and that paintings have for a long time worked well with narrative scenes. By referencing the Biblical narrative in my titles, I allow viewers to bring a larger portion of the human experience to the piece of art than they would have without the title. The title brings in elements of history and spirituality and can bring an epic feel to the contemporary events taking place within the painting, even if the viewer does not know the details of the Biblical story. When creating a painting I do not start out with a narrative in mind as if illustrating it. Rather I create the painting and sometime during the course of the work, I recall a Biblical account that in the feeling of the story is loosely similar to the painting.  This can help me direct the mood of the painting and make small changes to liken the title and painting to each other if necessary.

The works of several painters influence my art. Caravaggio set his Biblical figures under strong raking light and in contemporary settings and dress. Tanner, painting with fluid and confident brushstrokes and colors, created a sense of grandeur in his Biblical scenes that relates a profound view of God and humanity. I have learned from Pissarro's landscapes, colors, lighting and treatment of space. I like the strong raking light that Hopper employs in many of his landscape paintings. I find inspiration in Turner’s skies, Chagall’s Biblical work, and Van Gogh’s colors, brushwork, and treatment of landscape.