1984-Hibiscus
”Painting is just painting and most of the time we find that the magic just happens!”

I started working in pastels and oils in 1984 and initially painted landscapes and still lives to get me started. Since I had not gone to art school, I began to study with teachers here in Santa Fe. That, plus my reading various art books of the masters and from time to time, copying them, allowed me to develop a greater appreciation of their style.

My most memorable time was when I bought a book describing the compositional concepts of Cezanne. I spent hours tracing his pieces and then working them on paper. Although I always had a good sense of composition, especially after spending time as a professional photographer, shooting visuals for educational film strips in the 70s, there were elements in his work that were so exciting!

White Rock-1987

By 1987 I was doing most of my work out-of-doors (Plein Air) and then finishing each piece in the studio. I did this to get the feeling of the area that caught my eye, and then go back to the studio and try to paint that feeling in hues and shapes that of course were not there, but I could feel them in the landscape.

Moonrise at Cochiti-1988

This and the previous piece, represent the compositional style I was using at that time, I was trying to give the viewer the feeling of the New Mexico landscape. It was such a contradiction to me because, on the one hand, it was hard and beautifully bulky, but on the other, because of the colors and desert, soft and alluring.

ARTISTIC TIMELINE

Sagres 1-1988

This piece was created in Sagres, Portugal, where I spent 6 months during the winter in 1988. As can be seen here, I was moving through coloristic spaces and exploring more and more the use of unusual color relationships.