About Me: The Ever-Changing Artist's Statement

So many artists dread writing a statement; myself included.  I finally took a stab at it.  

When I was growing up, my family moved every year or two. I realized much later that, while there was still stability there, there was never a sense of permanence. One of the only physical constants (apart from the actual humans) was the collection of photographs we had amassed and managed to bring with us. Many of them were of events and people before my time and in some ways a window into another world. Other photos enhanced my memories of the people and places I knew. As an adolescent, I liked to draw those images—maybe it was that having a small snapshot in my hand was not enough. I tried to capture or interpret them, make them larger, make them mine. Once I started painting, I began to use those old photos to inspire my work, as well as using staged or candid shots of my own, others' photographs with permission, movie stills (just hit 'pause') or sometimes no photo at all.  My work really just centers around images that strike me, and there isn't always an explanation. I feel like the paintings are often asking a question, creating a mood, or simply setting up a vignette from a moment in time, and in the end, a way of making those moments permanent.

I paint using oils, working on canvas or treated paper.  Sometimes I make collages, prints, and occasionally a watercolor.