Beech Tree Oil on Linen 38" X 42"
Cold Spring
Melting Snow
As I begin a work, my personal response to the actual scene is primary. Do I like looking at it? Do I identify with the image? Do I see possibilities for a painting in it, for transforming it into pictorial language? As poet/critic James Schuyler once wrote, “The reality of a painting does not like in the presence or absence of subject, but in conviction.” Finding the subject compelling being visually engaged with it as an image, and wrestling with its portrayal are ways of describing my sense of conviction.
The specific resources for my work come from the visual world that surround me – in regard to the paintings in this exhibition, the rural/wooded setting in which I live. In addition, a number of art styles and time periods influence my orientation. From the Dutch Baroque, the technique in handling oils and the commonplace subject have always fascinated me. The allegiance to optical color of Impressionism… and the structured-flat image on the 20th century have both won my respect for their visual strength. Last, but not least, has been the many forms of recent Contemporary Realism in its ongoing pursuit of applying principals of ‘Modern Abstract Art’ to realistic subjects. I believe my art to be a mixture of the above styles – choosing what is most personal for my seeing and my art.
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