Artist Statement

My paintings are aesthetic. There Is no tension, political, or social motive. I create oil on canvas landscapes and still life paintings of scenes around a small Texas town along the Guadalupe River where I was born. Feeling connected to nature in this place, I search for scenes in warm light conveying a sense of tranquility, reflecting on local history. The images may show simple or complex organic patterns. Oak trees, mountain laurels, wildflowers and a brilliant blue sky draw me into the natural spaces. Flowers are frequently the subject in my paintings. Flowers provide the color and beauty in nature that I’m trying to capture. Flowers have an important role in life celebrations and elevate the meaning of any event. Finding pleasure in this beauty removes distractions and provides me a brief sense of relief from life’s distress. If the viewer feels the same emotion, then my work has communicated its message.

This town where I find the subjects for my paintings is changing due to growth and development. Many of the scenes I paint reminisce of a time when the town was more isolated from city life. As the wide-open spaces become rapidly urbanized and the town fills with buildings, its character is changed. The main street gas station is now a UPS store, the Post Office a restaurant and my grandparents’ home a B & B. My paintings may communicate nostalgia for a simpler life, more connected to nature.  

As I photograph scenes while walking down sidewalks, park pathways and river banks I notice the changes and try to capture a unique perspective by drawing on compositions of artists I admire. Julian Onderdonk’s Texas Hill Country paintings are an inspiration to paint the local scenes of wildflowers unique to this region while adding the feeling of vacancy that Ed Hopper captured in his paintings. April Gornik’s modified landscapes inspire me to simplify scenes trying to create drama in nature. Like Lois Dodd’s paintings with views through windows and doorways, I also try to place the viewer into the artist’s space. My brushwork falls somewhere between impressionism and realism with attempts to create a painting separate from photorealism.

Making art is my attempt to relieve some of the distressing realities of life, time passing, death of a friend, and watching a parent decline with Alzheimer’s disease. By creating pleasurable images, I focus on beauty instead of pain. As a neurologist I know that visual aesthetics engage the entire brain, therefore if the viewer feels pleasure by seeing a beautiful image, pain and distress can become subordinate. Visual art has a power difficult for science or literature to describe. As Edward Hopper said “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Likewise, I hope to speak to the viewer without words.