I am inspired by the human experience. Life stories. Trials. Triumphs. Failures, even. The subjects of my portraits are chosen for their stories – their visions, individual accomplishments or, perhaps, unanswered questions about their lives. These are the factors that drive my work. It is generally after discovering something particularly fascinating about a person’s life that I am compelled to capture them on canvas. And, while the work is in progress, I feel as though I am granted a tiny window into their souls – a gift I cannot presuppose. I start each portrait not knowing if this tiny window will appear, or how long it will remain open. I end each portrait…simply grateful.
Motivated by life’s realities, I use painting to communicate more intimate and objective glimpses into the characters of individuals. “Art should bring you closer to understanding something that you didn’t before,” I believe, and endeavor that my portraits will serve that purpose.
But, whether I am creating a portrait, an abstract composition, or exploring a different artform altogether, inspiration is the common thread that fuses the entirety of my projects. My aim, in any medium, is to produce larger-than-life work that awakens and fully engages the senses of the curious, the weary, as well as the disenchanted. It is with an acute awareness that inspiration wanes, expires, and requires a constant stream of reinforcement that I offer these humble morsels of triumph, beauty, courage and enlightenment.