Artist’s Statement

The interview on this podcast was made in preparation for a slide presentation called “Let the Artist Speak,” I was at Upper House in Madison, Wisconsin, a study center near the UW. The questions asked by Susan Smetzer-Anderson led me to explain how my work is generated from my thoughts, my history, and my faith.

To hear the interview click HERE

THROUGH THE EYES OF A PAINTER

It’s natural for me to turn things that move me into an image.  When I am reading, thinking, listening, or just looking, I constantly turn my perceptions into pictures in my mind.

I work primarily with portraits and care very much about getting a likeness, but accuracy in likeness is not enough; we all know there is more to a person than meets the eye. In what we see of someone’s face, or hands, or way of sitting, there are a thousand clues to the interior behind it. One might call it soft observation, unspoken and unproven, but nonetheless a history of feelings in the presence of a person. I love to make the most of those clues in my paintings.

 I hope my work triggers some recognition of truth in another person and gives us access to each other.  I hope that in knowing each other we can know that we are not alone. 

“The Motions of Grace, the hardness of heart; external circumstances. _ Pascal, Pensee 507