You know, I’ve painted for a long time: most of my life, really. It took a long time for me to realize the direction that my artwork would take. It has been said that artists (those of us who paint) don’t paint because they want to, they paint because they have to. I’ve found that to be very much the truth.

I hit a period in my life where I was unable to paint, unable to even pick up a pencil. Depression and anxiety almost destroyed that which I had associated so closely with my own identity that they were nearly inseparable.

After more than a decade of fighting my personal demons, I decided that they were not going to take my life away. They were not going to take my gift. Once I started painting again, things finally began to take a positive shape.

To me, the emotion and feeling behind a piece are more important than anything else. I have no animosity toward photo-realism, it’s just that there’s no place for it in my work. I would rather see broad brush strokes and rich color bringing to life the meaning behind a subject’s eyes. You may see a portrait of Marilyn Monroe- but is it really her? Isn’t that Norma Jean’s innocence hiding in her eyes?

That’s what I do, or try to do. I want every piece I paint to bring you a moment in time, or an emotional state that these people represent. I want you to be rewarded for looking a little deeper and thinking a little longer than a casual observer.

Thank you, my friends, for taking the time to be more than casual observers- because I am more than a casual painter.