For me, every painting is an exercise in creativity.  How can I interpret a scene, or a feeling, in a unique way and make it uniquely my own?  And when I put paint to canvas are the colours truly outstanding and relevant?

I was always hit hardest, visually, by first impressions.  I excelled at gesture drawings, the loose, exciting studies of the figure that were usually executed in under 2 minutes.  To me they were full of gusto and feeling and provided the essence of the drawing.  Anything over 10 minutes seemed to drag on to me, as we used the time to add highlights to the eyes and hair.

In this way I’ve strived to try to keep my painting looking fresh and exciting, as if a moment has been captured while in motion.  If I find myself bogged down by details it means you have to be, too, and it detracts from the essence of the painting.

I could almost say that my paintings are all about the colour.  I just love, and really get off, on watching how colour mixes and works together.  So much of fine art is the act of being able to mixing and manipulating paint in interesting ways. I consider colour to be far and away the most vital of element to any decent painting, and consider it to be one of my strengths.

As mentioned earlier, I try to capture “first impressions” as well as I can.  If I’ve become bogged down by too much business and detail I’ve just made my painting boring, since these things don’t interest me at all.  They detract from the essence.  I try to concentrate on the most vital elements of a painting, and eliminate the things that don’t interest me.