I’ve been painting landscapes and seascapes for more than thirty years. When my wife and I moved to Northern California in 1994, I fell in love with the scenery—the mountains, the coastline, and the tremendous diversity of the landscape. From Tahoe to San Diego, California can feel like several different worlds in one state. Of course, I’ve painted places far beyond California, but there’s something about the beauty here that continues to inspire me. I work primarily in acrylic on canvas. I love contrast and I’m always looking for dramatic light and dark in nature—the moment when sunlight breaks through, when a mountain disappears into shadow, or when the color of the sky changes everything below it. I’m drawn to beautiful, saturated color, but just as much to quiet, muted color. Sometimes it’s the tension between the two that makes a painting work. Composition is a big part of that search as well. I’m always looking for an arrangement that strengthens the light, color and mood of a scene. I use a brush probably 98% of the time, but I’ll bring in a palette knife, sponge, or whatever else gives me the texture I’m looking for. In the end, it’s about trying to capture not just what a place looks like, but what it felt like to be there.
