Artist Statement
Nature has always inspired my artistic work and I find that it is my spiritual connection to the landscape that drives me to create my paintings. Living so close to a vast array of open terrain has allowed me to study the desert scenery in great detail. Throughout the year I take many trips hiking and venturing through the desert in order to find new places waiting to be discovered. These majestic scenes become the inspiration for my work.
I always begin each painting by capturing the overall composition, which is then developed further through a combination of expressive intuition and technical skill. While the expressive and abstracted style allows me to capture and convey my spiritual connection to nature, my technical skill enables me to achieve a sense of realism and at the same time portray nature’s radiance with harmonious color that is luminous and peaceful. In the final work, my use of oil paints results in a smooth and transitional surface with crisp lines, which reflect the feeling that the particular landscape produces in me.
There is a quote that I feel defines the expression of my landscapes quite well. It is written by William Kenith who stated: “What a landscape painter wants to render is not the natural landscape, but the state of feeling which the landscape produces in himself.” My pieces are driven not only by my love for painting but also by a spiritual connection I feel towards nature. This is the essence I strive to portray in my work with great dedication.