What inspires me? Color, color, color.  I eat it for breakfast.

What is color?  It’s simply the energy of light vibrating at different frequencies.  I choose to focus on color because this inspiration is infinite and it is ever changing. As the sun shines through the particles in the sky and moves over our heads each day it casts a different light in each environment on the globe.  Hour by hour forms and shadows are reshaped.  Focus upon this subtle change keeps me present, it therapeutically keeps my thoughts in the moment. Why do we enjoy watching a sunset?  I think it’s because we slow down and relax into the moment, reflecting as we watch the very source of color reshape the environment for yet another day.  As they day ends we’re reminded that the sun will set again and it places the days events and life’s current circumstances in context. The French Impressionists discovered the genius of this joy and inspiration.  Their subject was color shaped by the immediate and ambient light of a place in time.  The subject wasn’t haystacks, water lilies, or cathedrals.  The Impressionist period continues to hold universal appeal and remains one of the most popular periods in the history of Western art.  It’s accessible and the focus was beautiful simplicity. I’ve been referred to as an Impressionist and I don’t believe that is accurate.  Although I do paint in the timeless tradition of French Impressionists like Monet, plein air (in the open air), I’m not from a previous century. And even though I use the same oil pigments as Van Gough from Old Holland Oil Works established in 1664, my work is influenced by the direct mentorship I received from contemporary painters Wayne Thiebaud and Gregory Kondos (American Art icons) and my study with renowned industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost.  Each of these influences are an inspiration along with my love of color.