From an early age, I’ve had an interest in painting. As a teenager I began to look and study works by artists of the Northern Renaissance and Dutch Golden Age period spanning the 1400’s thru the 1600’s. This would include painters such as Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van Der Wyden, Rembrandt and Vermeer. 

Also since the beginning, I have been interested in painting wildlife, especially birds. The structural differences between species along with all the colors and other traits of a bird have maintained an endless interest. The technique of building layers extending depth in a painting is what first attracted me to oil paint and retains my interest still. Along with birds my subject matter goes from still life and landscapes and portraiture . 

With each work, I use many different reference sources to build up an idea. Visually, I would like the viewer to recognize each part of the painting, but not to give the full story of the work, rather letting the viewer work out his/her own overall idea. I’m not working to create a “photo realistic” image, but to convey an illusion that seems possible.