Although it may not be the first thing one notices about my paintings, their dynamic is largely influenced by the Abstract Expressionists. I need not to know exactly how a painting is going to come out, or even if it will succeed. I discover the meaning of each painting as I go along. Usually I have a hint of a theme or I know how I want to go about a painting, but the final outcome is always a surprise to me. Nevertheless, unlike strictly abstract painters, I paint mostly from direct observation. Nature offers me a necessary resistance that I find challenging.

I began drawing as a child out-of-doors in pastels, influenced, of course, by the Impressionists. To this day, discovering new color relationships as I paint from nature remains a central focus of my work. Once back in the studio, away from the motif, I may adjust the color quantities in order to take stock of the role of each color on the canvas. I can often find colors by listening to them, by attributing certain sounds to each color.The type of brushstroke I use is also a function of the color. The space conveyed by a piece of music may also inspire the sense of space in a painting. I rarely think of color according to theory but rather for the distinct characteristic it has when I employ it.

Rhythm in painting is also important to me; the way the eye moves through a canvas, and one form, color, or stroke leads to another. Often I find a motif or something that seems paintable because through drawing it I have found a particular rhythm. I might square up such a drawing onto a canvas of corresponding proportions, or I might begin on the site with the canvas blank. Either way I must retain complete freedom to discover the rhythm once more.