As an artist and a person, I am very enamored with the human form. My approach is to express humanity in the figure by rendering the subtle anatomical details so as to create a speaking likeness, not only of just the portrait, but also of the whole figure. Whether a significant part of the composition or a minor element of the figure, I believe the finest of lines, shades of value, or a subtle variation in the contour can alter the personality of the subject. I feel an empathic connection to the figures I draw, and am very careful to manipulate the form to create an engaging personality and to portray the figure with great respect.

As a teacher, my focus is to encourage the students to creatively apply the fundamentals of art. My classes, principally beginning drawing, center on mixed media applications as a means to explore individualized expressions of gesture, contour, and value adding lines.

My own style reflects a fascination with the effect of a seamless flow of value over the figure, created by a weave of lines that rely on optical mixing to create the value tones. The appeal of the approach is the dual nature; it’s as technically precise as it is a meditative free-flowing creative expression of form. The style emerged as a result of studying classical and contemporary masters. As familiarity of the master techniques increased, an intuitive style began to emerge. The resulting effect was the portrayal of the figure without influence from outside factors such as existing styles, or schools of thought, but rather a pure reflection of what I find appealing in art.

My growth as an artist is the result of both a desire to expand my visual vocabulary in order to portray the figure with a more spontaneous, creative flair, and my natural curiosity of how the various mixed media approaches I teach in class will apply to my outlook.