Materials, Methods, and Inspiration—
Regarding technique—I try to keep it simple. There's no reason to develop an elaborate technique. Over time, it's possible and desirable to forget about technique. I love the tactile feel and translucency of oil paint. Layers of thin, analagous colors. To start I quickly sketch in a preliminary idea with charcoal and a high-key imprimatura layer of very thin paint. Then, if it feels right, I begin to refine the image with layers of mixed color thinned with a synthetic resin medium. I stay open to changes as the painting progresses. In fact, I continually adjust, correct, amplify. Patience is key.

Each painting is a synthesis of observed facts, memory, and strong feelings about the subject. It's almost as if the observed subject becomes overlain with a "feeling layer", like a transparency. This is something a photograph can never do, and why my paintings are not like photographs. Painting is a very complicated process that I do not fully understand.

There is a marvelous synthesis of vision, feeling, and technique realized in the works of painters that inspire me. Contemplation of nature is another source of my inspiration. The glow of natural light, palpable atmosphere, transition of color and value from light to shadow are never-ending sources of pleasure and amazement.

Some thoughts on Painting—
A good painting is more than a skillfully realized visual description of a subject that is interesting or beautiful. There's a fundamental, personal point of view expressed by the artist that serves as an organizing factor, like roots that feed and support the tree which we see above ground. This point of view is something an artist is born with—it cannot be invented. An artistic point of view can be developed and refined, like skill and good taste, but cannot be invented. I believe that much of a painter's skill resides in finding ways to express their innate point of view authentically and powerfully.

A good painting transcends description by embodying symbolic content. For example, a white cup is more than a white cup—it is an empty vessel which symbolizes a quiet mind empty of thought, ambition, and distraction. An acorn symbolizes a giant oak tree, a tremendous compression of the former tree from which it issued and the potential for another vast tree in the future, thus standing as a bridge between the past and the future, the realized and the possible. These symbols create a resonance in the mind and heart of the viewer, and I believe a good painting successfully integrates symbols within the form of the painting.