Surfaces on which to build

In presenting my work to you the viewer and the reader, I am faced with the perplexity of openly exhibiting my feelings, identity, and actions to help you to understand the paintings. As an artist I seek out the character and idiosyncrasies of my environment. My awareness of and reaction to what is outside myself has an influence on my work. But unlike a camera or mirror, I will not give back an exact reflection. I will assimilate, choose and transform experiences until I am ready to make an artistic statement that is distinctly personal. As you experience these personal statements which are my paintings, you may begin to apprehend some similarities and some inconsistencies in my perception of and reaction to life as compared with your own view. I will not record for you truisms and shining mottos made by other artists or critics. I cannot gain your understanding by basking in their reflected glory even though I have listened to them and nodded in agreement with their profundities. Instead I will try to reveal the excitement I gain in the act of forming and reacting to layers of pigments to build a balanced, harmonious surface. A basic level of understanding of my work demands an examination of the process I use to produce the paintings you see reproduced on the following pages. After describing this process, I will discuss some of the ways in which I assess, reflect, and incorporate the realities of change, scale, time and unity into my work. Each of the areas of explanation is preceded by a few more or less relevant thoughts concerning these things that have happened to me as well as feelings that I have had which illuminate my ways of seeing and help me to keep in touch with myself