ARTIST'S BIO
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Currently based in Memphis, TN, I am a landscape painter whose medium is oil paint on canvas. I prefer to paint places I know or have been. This gives me an emotional connection to my subject matter.
As a child growing up on my grandfather's ranch in southern California and in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, I spent a lot of time outdoors playing under big skies and noticing the magical effects of light in nature - especially during the golden hour. In the quiet space of my room, I liked to immerse myself in drawing. These early activities led to my engagement in the two kinds of representational painting I practice today: plein air and studio.
My oil paintings reflect a kinship I feel with contemporary and 19th-century luminists whose sense of the spiritual is evoked in depictions of light in the natural world.
I scout for three things when selecting subject matter: an inspiring light effect, the intersection of interesting compositional shapes, and the sensation of something stirring me. By taking my camera with me when I go for a walk, I’m ready to document an arresting moment in the landscape. Claude Monet said, "The motif is secondary; what I want to capture is what exists between the motif and myself." My goal is not to merely reproduce a scene, but to uncover how the scene makes me feel and use the tools I have as an artist: emphasis, color, brushstrokes - to bring forth that mood.
