Wild nature has always been the wellspring of my inspiration

I have been fortunate to live in many wild places: my early years in the gentle rolling hills of New England and then the awe inspiring Rockies of Colorado, followed by the wolf-and-moose trodden boreal forests of northern Minnesota and now, in my later years, the fascinating ecologies of central Oregon’s high desert, Cascade mountains and the rugged coasts and rain forests of the Pacific Northwest. 

In all these places, Art has been been my constant. 

I have spent my life wandering the wild country on horseback, on foot and in kayaks and canoes, always with an observing eye, taking in the details and studying the textures, colors and scents of each area. This life-long study has given me a deep knowledge of the natural world that helps me capture, not just the visual reality of a scene, but its mood and essence as well. 

Certain scenes tug at me to capture them: water, whether moving or still, with its many habitats and creatures; the light at dusk or dawn in marshes and coastal areas; and of course the high desert near my home in Central Oregon with its ever-changing skies. I especially enjoy trying to convey the nuances of the particular season. 

Painting offers me an opportunity to create a lasting image and memory of an image that is often lost in detail, or the emotion it had stirred within me. A painting of these encounters can preserve the vividness and the emotions of those moments.

Reality is important, yet I like to have enough suggestive area so viewers are moved to interpret their unique experience about a piece. I often paint from memory, pulling up sensory moments that affected me in a particular place and try to incorporate them into a piece, like a mist rising from a wild marsh, the layers of light as sun sets behind a mountain, warm autumn light on New England colorful hillsides, dense cold of a far northern frozen lake, or the subtle colors of springtime on the High Desert.

When looking at my work, I hope you may feel a bit of that intimacy of the scene as I strive to create emotion with a play of color, texture and the drama of natural light as it transforms the shape and mood of an object or place.