My Background and Technique as an Artist

Art has been my passion for over 35 years and sharing passion through my art is my joy. I am inspired by the simple beauty seen in life. This beauty ranges from simple movement and line to its physical embodiment. There is inner beauty that all people and objects possess if seen in the proper light and perspective - metaphorically and literally speaking. Recognizing and recording the representation of that natural beauty is my desire and challenge.  I typically focus on a single subject and paint in a realistic style with minimal or no supporting background in my oil paintings. 

AS an artist, my focus on little details permeates my artwork. I am fascinated by details – but not obsessed by them (or so I think). The selection and reduction of the details surrounding the subject is important to me. The details help to emphasize elegance both from a conceptual perspective and in conveying simplicity and beauty. 

I love people’s faces and find that portraying them through portraiture and figurative work is a very gratifying way to capture the moment and convey my vision of the personification of beauty to others.

Commissions are gladly considered. 

I am a member of Oil Painters of America and have been accepted as a finalist of the 14th International ARC Salon Competition - Winners to be announced in July 2019.

I am somewhat classical in my painting technique which I leaned oil painting techniques from Tony Ryder and have adapted as I have learned from others along the way and through the experience of trial and error for my artwork.  As has been said by many - no artist is really self taught - we have the shoulders of others through the ages to stand on for their inspiration, example, and teaching if we but take the time to listen, observe, and most of all to apply.

I generally draw from life or from reference materials I have created.  Drawing is a great way to work out composition and value for the painting. I also work on composition through the use of Photoshop when using my own reference material preliminary to drawings.

Once I have a drawing, I either  create a small sketch/color study if I am not sure of my direction, or start on a panel. I will scale/transfer my drawing to the panel and ghost the transferred drawing to create a light underdrawing. From this underdrawing, I will do a first painting to block in the color and identify the basic value relationships in the painting. Then I will move on to the second painting to refine the color and the details. Depending on the painting, I may apply multiple layers of glazes and additional detail until I am satisfied with the painting. 

My basic materials can be found here.