ARTIST STATEMENT There are many artists and genres that interest me and have influenced my progression as an artist, and I appreciate both historical and contemporary works. Van Eyke, Vermeer and Vander Wyden share the list with Lucien Freud, Joseph Cornell, Paul Klee and Frank Auerbach. I am particularly attached to the London school along with a group of contemporary Spanish realists. Of these, Lopez Garcia and Isabella Quintanilla impress me the most. The contemporary art world is not a place where a person can sit back and get too comfortable and I try not to confuse myself with all the “isms” that pop up in art. I am constantly looking to expand my knowledge, vision and expertise, and I feel most comfortable when I can experiment with imagery that is outside the box. I find I learn more with my larger work, so I try to take on one or two large projects a year that I can really sink my teeth into. I certainly have been influenced by teachers, friends and art history. It’s easy to get too heavy and serious about art, so I haven’t followed any one school of thought. My paintings are very personal, with one work often evolving from another in a series of cycles. Much of my imagery is inspired by my surroundings, my background and family. My kids have been a huge and ongoing inspiration for me, not just by way of the objects that have been incorporated into my paintings, but in the mind set they have shared with me. It is their honest interpretation and unaffected exploration of the natural world that has really opened my eyes and that I have tried to apply in my own work.
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