Artist’s Statement

 
Using oils-on-canvas, I paint each specific scene, capturing each real place, each season, each time-of-day.  I recreate the details unique to the places where I visit and have lived.  I like to use roads, rivers, and fences to lead the eye through each scene.  Although I sometimes work plein air, I usually refer to sets of photos to finish works in the studio.  Clean edges, details, heightened contrasts, often layers of tonal glazes, all work together to complete each finished piece.  The intention is that each work will provide a pleasing sense of identity and connection.

Biography

 
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, I grew up in the hills of West Virginia.  I have lived the intervening years in the Alleghenies of Bath County, Virginia, and in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.  So the hills and hollows, with their changing seasons, have always been a part of my experiences.  Following a satisfying first career as a public school art teacher, I am now into my long-anticipated painting career, depicting the beautiful natural world around me.
 
In my detailed, realistic style, I am continually influenced by time-honored landscapists such as Frederick Church, Albert Bierstadt, and the Hudson River School of artists.  Their abilities to depict distance and drama, light and shadow, the real and the mysterious, always inspire me.