Artist Statement
I paint because I enjoy the creation, the expression of shape and color. I mainly paint outdoors in New York because I love the city and the process (and agony) of venturing into it to express that affection. I walk, as all New Yorkers do, but I look up to the skyline, or down cross streets, or into alleyways, and catch an image of shapes that need painting. I return, lugging easel, canvas, and gear to capture that which first entranced me.
I rarely paint people in my cityscapes; too often it seems an infringement on their privacy, and I don’t have the space or interest to recreate poses in the studio. But people are present all around –-they are standing behind me, they are commenting, they are explaining to their kids. Some are street cleaners, some are professional artists, s erious buyers are silent and ask for a card. Sometimes I think it is performance art translated to canvas.
On summer evenings when the forecast and sky look promising, I cart my gear to Lower Manhattan, a big easel and many small supports: canvas, paper or most likely gessoed aluminum. I speed paint the sunset trying to capture the vivid colors of sky, clouds and water as they change every few minutes. Not all sunset paintings work, not all survive the subway trip home 2-3 hours later, but it is exciting, challenging, and frequently very rewarding.
More recently I have been working on larger scale watercolor paintings in the studio, working from photographs, drawings, and oil sketches; constructing and deconstructing new images to convey my wandering, outsider, voyeur status.
I rarely paint people in my cityscapes; too often it seems an infringement on their privacy, and I don’t have the space or interest to recreate poses in the studio. But people are present all around –-they are standing behind me, they are commenting, they are explaining to their kids. Some are street cleaners, some are professional artists, s erious buyers are silent and ask for a card. Sometimes I think it is performance art translated to canvas.
On summer evenings when the forecast and sky look promising, I cart my gear to Lower Manhattan, a big easel and many small supports: canvas, paper or most likely gessoed aluminum. I speed paint the sunset trying to capture the vivid colors of sky, clouds and water as they change every few minutes. Not all sunset paintings work, not all survive the subway trip home 2-3 hours later, but it is exciting, challenging, and frequently very rewarding.
More recently I have been working on larger scale watercolor paintings in the studio, working from photographs, drawings, and oil sketches; constructing and deconstructing new images to convey my wandering, outsider, voyeur status.
