My subject matter is typically based on something I’ve seen and responded to emotionally, such as a large wave slowly curling toward shore while sunlight sparkles off it’s edges, or cloud banks floating over a turquoise sea ocean creating dark green shadows. Immediately I begin thinking how I might create a composition based on that sublime experience. My subjects are also drawn from powerful memories. For example, when I was a teenager my friends and I would sneak off and swim in the heavy surf when a hurricane was moving up the coast. The roar of the winds and waves was deafening and it was very dangerous, but being swept along by the power of the crashing waves was also indescribably thrilling.

Craftsmanship is important to me personally, but ultimately painting is  about communicating the experience to others. I want the viewer to not only look at the picture, but to imagine and experience the water, the force of the tides against their bodies, and the reflection of the sky wrapping around sculptural shapes of the waves cresting above the horizon. That’s a great deal to ask of a two dimensional work of art, but I believe it is a worthwhile ambition, and a goal grand enough goal to keep me well occupied for many years to come.