General Artist's Statement
Although I have worked in many different media over the course of my career (acrylic, charcoal, digital, etching, lithography, pastel, and silkscreen), the look of the land, the sea, and the sky have always been my consistent interest. The subjects of my landscapes are ordinary scenes transformed by light in a way that suggests a spiritual narrative. My very realistic style aims to faithfully recreate the details of my experiences of this numinous quality of the phenomenal world in order to share the experiences as completely as possible with the viewer. Maine has always been a major source of subject matter, but I also find material in the greater Boston area and when traveling. Because I like a high level of detail, I work very slowly, usually taking several months per piece. I am influenced by almost everything I see, but certain artists have been especially important to me, among them Hopper, Porter, Inness, and the Luminists.
About Digital Drawings: The Pixels Are Showing!
When I first began digital drawing in the eary 1990's, my goal was to demonstrate that the medium could be used to create work that was equal in quality to work created with traditional media, specifically charcoal, pastel, and etching. Recently, however, the pixel has begun to emerge from behind the scenes. My new look features the little squares as integral not only to the process but also to the visual sparkle of the textures in the new drawings. This incorporation of my technology into my look also extends to the printing of the drawings. They are now output on multiple panels on my Epson 4000. The white divisions between panels have become a compositional elements that reflect both the modular nature of the digital medium and the dislocations that humankind has inflicted on the natural world.
My digital drawings are drawn just like my charcoals, lithographs, and pastels except that I use digital tools, including a software program called Corel Painter 10 and a pressure-sensitive digitizing tablet and stylus. I create a blank file of the right size and resolution to produce the final image and select a paper texture, a color, and a drawing tool. As I draw, the tablet and stylus electronically translate the motions of my hand into strokes that look as though they were made with the drawing tool I have selected (charcoal pencil or pastel, for example). I see these strokes occurring real-time on my monitor. The finished digital files are proofed and printed in limited editions using archival inks on fine art rag paper. They are not reproductions, nor are they manipulated photographs.
They are original prints drawn by hand. The video about Anza-Borrego Oak, a digital drawing that took 89 days to complete, illustrates my creative process and tells the story better than words.
Although I have worked in many different media over the course of my career (acrylic, charcoal, digital, etching, lithography, pastel, and silkscreen), the look of the land, the sea, and the sky have always been my consistent interest. The subjects of my landscapes are ordinary scenes transformed by light in a way that suggests a spiritual narrative. My very realistic style aims to faithfully recreate the details of my experiences of this numinous quality of the phenomenal world in order to share the experiences as completely as possible with the viewer. Maine has always been a major source of subject matter, but I also find material in the greater Boston area and when traveling. Because I like a high level of detail, I work very slowly, usually taking several months per piece. I am influenced by almost everything I see, but certain artists have been especially important to me, among them Hopper, Porter, Inness, and the Luminists.
About Digital Drawings: The Pixels Are Showing!
When I first began digital drawing in the eary 1990's, my goal was to demonstrate that the medium could be used to create work that was equal in quality to work created with traditional media, specifically charcoal, pastel, and etching. Recently, however, the pixel has begun to emerge from behind the scenes. My new look features the little squares as integral not only to the process but also to the visual sparkle of the textures in the new drawings. This incorporation of my technology into my look also extends to the printing of the drawings. They are now output on multiple panels on my Epson 4000. The white divisions between panels have become a compositional elements that reflect both the modular nature of the digital medium and the dislocations that humankind has inflicted on the natural world.
My digital drawings are drawn just like my charcoals, lithographs, and pastels except that I use digital tools, including a software program called Corel Painter 10 and a pressure-sensitive digitizing tablet and stylus. I create a blank file of the right size and resolution to produce the final image and select a paper texture, a color, and a drawing tool. As I draw, the tablet and stylus electronically translate the motions of my hand into strokes that look as though they were made with the drawing tool I have selected (charcoal pencil or pastel, for example). I see these strokes occurring real-time on my monitor. The finished digital files are proofed and printed in limited editions using archival inks on fine art rag paper. They are not reproductions, nor are they manipulated photographs.
They are original prints drawn by hand. The video about Anza-Borrego Oak, a digital drawing that took 89 days to complete, illustrates my creative process and tells the story better than words.