Beginnings:
My career began in 1996 when Breckenridge Gallery in Colorado took me under their wing. I had studied for several months with the painter Malcolm Bryan and he mentored me into Breckenridge and from there I was able to gain representation in Texas and Santa Fe, NM and beyond. The main focus of my study was chiaroscuro and the classical elements of painting. I studied with David Leffel and Gregg Kreutz in two Taos workshops during 1997 and 1998.
Since then I have brought a multi-cultural influence into my style with the large and dramatic single image pieces. The time I spent in Tucson in 2007, poking through Tubac and the artists studios there, I could see the Mexican artistic community had an eye for large scale and vibrant color. I was delighted to find that I could combine this drama with my chiaroscuro skills. See my Decorative link for examples of this work.
Style:
My style of painting is the classic technique of Chiaroscuro; however, I have added my own personal sense of value to the range this can accomplish. Sometimes I let light take over and the values become the full story. On other pieces I attend to color, pure and brilliant, dense and rich. But all my still lifes -- from a simple pear to a complex arrangement of items -- have a sense of quiet harmony.
