Philosophy on Art & Life
Probably my greatest source of inspiration as I entered the world of painting was the great Dutch portraitist Rembrandt Van Rijn. Due to his influence, I at first hoped to become primarily a portrait artist, but I've since then evolved into more of a landscape painter. Another historical painter for whose work I have great regard is Thomas Eakins, and after him the French impressionists, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, Cassatt, Manet, Pissaro, Caillebotte, even Seurat. Like them, I enjoy both portraiture and landscape. It's exciting to see the evolution of a painting from formless areas of color and stray marks into something with shape, color, contrast and, in the end, visual excitement. I think my driving force is an experimental curiosity. I often begin a painting thinking, 'I wonder what it would look like if...', then the question evolves into: 'I can't wait to see what this is going to look like.' In answer to the question, 'Which one of your paintings is your favorite?' my answer is usually, 'The one on my easel.'
I am also dazzled by the work of a great many contemporary artists. To name just a few: Andrew Wyeth, the portraitists Daniel Greene and Everett Raymond Kinstler, wildlife artists Robert Bateman and John Seerey-Lester, Bev Doolittle, Terry Redlin, historical painter Robert Griffing, and many more. While I don't presume to class myself with any of these spectacular artists, I am proud to be able to say that, like them, I make my living entirely from the sale of paintings and prints. That in itself is a source of great satisfaction.
As you probably noticed if you've visited my Miscellaneous page, I enjoy painting, period...it almost doesn't matter what the subject matter...as long as I get to paint. But I do have preferences. One of my favorite endeavors is portraiture. I discovered early in my career that I am able to get a pretty good likeness working directly from life...something not every artist can do. My other grand theme is, naturally, landscape. When I look at the natural world surrounding me here in rural Pennsylvania, what strikes me is the strength and abundance of contrasts; contrasts in color, in value, in texture. There is a pyrotechnic grandeur in a sunset sky, just as there is a lyrical beauty in the cheery spectacle of a schoolyard full of Amish children at play, their clothing bright like exclamation points against a dull and rustic landscape. My paintings result from the sense of awe I feel in witnessing firsthand these compelling contrasts; with my art I'm trying to recreate on a two-dimensional surface, with color, form and texture just a hint of the power of that visual impact. Although at the moment my painting focuses on simple beauty and nothing more 'serious' than that, I try to put enough of my own perspective into them to keep them from being considered trite. I have noticed that gallery browsers can usually pick out my work quite accurately no matter how scattered my pieces are among the work of other artists
. Early in my career an artist who was in some ways a mentor told me, "Paint what you know." That's what I'm trying to do. It may well come to pass that some day I'll have a change of mood and wander from what may by then be labeled my 'optimistic period' to address the weightier issues of humanity. But in spite of the events of 9/11/01 (which did keep me from being able to paint for a while, by the way) that hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, I choose to reflect on that which inspires rather than depresses me...ergo, my artistic statement: "WOW!"
My style of painting isn't exactly impressionism, nor is it photo realism; I call it photo impressionism. Since there is no formal art movement by that name, I'm probably the only photo impressionist of my day! But why juxtapose the words photo and impression? Because at first glance many of my paintings resemble photographs, I'm told. I've often heard someone in a gallery exclaim, while looking at one of my pieces, 'Hey, that looks just like a photo!' and then, on closer examination, add, 'But it looks more real than a photo, as though I could reach out and touch it.' That's exactly the reaction I'm after, and I hope you can get that same feel when viewing some of my work...as though the painting conveys a little something extra.
At the time of this writing, I'm in what I'd have to call my 'pastel period'. The properties of soft pastel allow me to best describe the world as I see it in terms of the strong contrasts. For a discussion of all the great attributes of pastel, click HERE.
Down through the years different artists have come up with varying, interesting ways to represent that which they saw as they looked at the world. Georges Seurat's idea was pointillism, wherein small dots of pure color are placed next to one another on the canvas, allowing the eye to do its own color mixing. Van Gogh discovered that he could put more feeling into his conception of reality by stabbing and slathering thick strokes of oil color across his canvas in ways that suggested movement. Monet and Pissarro used broken line to convey the immediacy of the natural world. Whistler painted it in muted grays, while Turner invoked all the power of color available to him from the painting mediums of his day in his renditions of blazing sunset skies. Each artist was painting his own vision with the materials he thought most capable of doing the job.
As I see it, nature seems to resemble no rendering of it more closely than a painting in soft pastels, with rich, smooth colors across the larger expanses, blended softly, as with fingers, the smoothness interrupted here and there with areas of rougher texture, of duller color, and sharp, strategically placed strokes of very dark and very light. When I look out at my world I see stunning color and texture; pastel paintings are my natural response.
|
One
of life's quests is finding that equilibrium between
the joy of living and the job of living. I'm one of the happy few
who has a career where it's not only possible, but necessary, to have fun.
Relaxing and exciting activities are necessary
for an artist, I believe, to keep the creative process
flowing. For me, painting is work,
not relaxation. Although I love doing it, it's hard on the nervous
system. So I intersperse sessions in the studio with a number of
varied activities...such as 
