Artist Statement/Biography (optiona...
As long as I can remember, I have needed to make art. I rarely go anywhere without at least a pencil and drawing pad. Painting connects me with everything I love, and I strive to capture a sense of the wonder and mysteries I see all around me. By the time I was twelve, I found my truest passion in painting portraits. The faces around me are endlessly intriguing. I love to draw or paint people who are not posing, but simply engaged in life. I paint in a classical realist style, and believe that every portrait should be able to stand alone as a work of fine art. I want my portraits to capture a true likeness, which may include elements of fantasy to offer insight into each person’s unique spirit. Surrounded by forest and fields, my studio in the Catskills looks out on mountains with ever-changing light. Many of my paintings contain elements from the Catskills and the nearby Ashokan Reservoir. An affinity for stone, woods, and ancient ruins inspired a series of castle paintings that capture times past or imagine places that could have been, where doorways open to let viewers wander into other worlds. I believe paintings should leave space for the viewers to engage in a dialogue with the art and to find their own stories. By exploring the places and people they meet within my paintings, I hope viewers will look more deeply at nature and see the vibrance in every living being. Paintings allow a moment in time to endure. They offer glimpses into places that frame our memories, or exist only in our imagination, and reveal insights into each subject. I hope that viewers will find resonance with their own visions of nature, mystery, time and myth within my artwork.