Capturing the essence of a landscape hinges on one fundamental principle: capturing the light. It's the quintessential element that breathes life into a sense of place, illuminating the geography and revealing the very atmosphere of that precise moment. In its dance, light imparts depth and dimension to the landscape's features, setting colors ablaze, and revitalizing the reflective surface of water. With its gentle touch, light unveils the telltale signs of the atmosphere, whether it's the temperature, humidity, season, or geographical location. It's the atmosphere that animates these landscapes, and every one of them is a unique masterpiece unto itself.
In the beautiful expanse of Montana, I've found the atmosphere to be a enchanting tapestry of complexity and diversity. When I paint or draw, I intuitively layer colors in intricate ways to craft that very atmosphere. My aim is simple yet profound: to convey the inherent beauty of each location. I hold the firm belief that it's the atmosphere that truly breathes life into a landscape, making it a vibrant and ever-evolving work of art.
Growing up…
Drawing and painting are natural expressive outlets for kids. And like most kids, I loved to participate in this activity. Unfortunately for most kids as they age and the inevitable socialization creates self-consciousness, judgment and ego...so many them start to distance themselves from any sort of visual creations. I somehow managed to live through this phase and continued to explore drawing through a fascination with birds and Walter Foster.
It is really weird seeing items you grew up with becoming collectable antiques! I should have collected comic books, instead I have a small collection of Walter Foster Learn How to Draw books. These were wonderful visual aids for learning the fundamentals of drawing nature, animals, people and so on. Although published in the sixties and have a dated look, they are still classics! Comic books from this era are worth more now, but, Walter got the job done.
I really focused on art in high school with the help of Bob Gordon, a gifted teacher and incredible soul that I dearly miss (Bob passed in 1999). He exposed me to abstract expressionism, pop art, photorealism and many more art movements of 60’s and 70’s, as well as an extensive engagement with the fundamentals of painting and drawing.
Against the wishes of most of my family I continued my pursuit of art in collage eventually receiving my BFA in drawing (California Collage of Arts and Crafts) and my MFA in painting (Montana State University).
I have since had more than 90 solo exhibitions and many more group and invitational shows. In addition, I am honored to have my work hang in over 100 major public, private and corporate art collections.
My art was very rebellious and satirical in the 70's while living in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. I was directly influenced by residing in this huge metropolitan area, yet still fascinated by nature through outings with Genise. My connection with nature deepened through an unexpected and wonderful adventure following Genise into meditation, intuition and subtle energies. This set the foundation for our path into Shamanic studies and earth honoring relationship with the world.
Genise and I moved to Montana and the energy of the large city wore off. Nature is now the dominant influence, but here, it is nature on steroids!
The landscape is now my mentor and even after thousands of paintings it still is an adventure into the light, beauty and awe with each new painting.