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let alone how to maintain those states if and when we do agree. The only certainly is that
change is inevitable, necessary and good. In this way, Nature is constantly creative. So, to
answer the question of who I am, today I am an artist trying to respond honestly to all that I
experience and reflect my personal thoughts and feelings back to the world.
Why do you paint?
I am extremely fortunate to be able to live life as an artist. Painting is a way for me to explore,
process and express my experiences. Painting allows me time to investigate who I am and attempt
to find my place in the world. In the process, I am able to create and offer objects that
add pleasure, beauty and mystery to the lives of others.
How do you see? What is it about the scene or subject that speaks to you, makes you feel and
causes you to create a painting?
Often I will see, hear or read something that strikes me as interesting without my necessarily
understanding why. There also is an emotional component that feels right on an unconscious
level. Over the years I have come to trust this initial attraction to things that impress
themselves upon me. They may only be threads of ideas but I hold onto them and slowly
follow where they lead. In that way the idea builds and unfolds over time, either quickly or
slowly. When I first started painting I would wait until an idea was fully formed before beginning
a painting. But now I often begin painting while the idea is still incubating. In this way,
the painting feels alive while I’m working on it and I don’t always know what it will look like
when complete. It grows organically until I decide it is finished.
Where is your inspiration coming from?
Inspiration comes from an unconscious place in me. The most meaningful work that I do
is born from a mysterious place. The less I try to understand the impulse to paint something,
the more exciting it is to create an image. I don’t mean to say that I’m not consciously
involved with each idea. But the more relaxed I can be, the better the result. Over-thinking a
concept will kill it.
Imagination is the word in some way crucial for your art … how does or should, that word
relate to an artist?
Each person’s imagination works in ways that are unique to them. Imagination isn’t something
that can be taught, although it can be allowed to flow more freely. Our unconscious
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