I generally create 'flatwork' - paintings, drawings and prints, but I create objects, as well. My work explores contemporary human issues through a spectrum of abstraction and realism. Time and place inform my non-linear narrative elements. The design of structures, tools, and nature inspires my work and humor is a constant. Though the context of the work remains in the present, it is grounded through studies of the past. Composition often begins the process, and it directs the action. From a build up of line, value, shape and color, figure/ground relationships develop, creating a dialogue with internal notions and concerns. Ideas develop from a union of the mind and action of the body. My discoveries come from questioning, and like a scientist testing hypotheses, I revise ideas - change vantage points, move a figure forward in space, or adjust the value composition for example. Through this construction and deconstruction cycle, patterns emerge and ideas are vetted. By constantly minding my visual language, works coalesce. Written words and phrases often appear in the picture plane and serve to mark poetic moments and reinforce the perceptual flatness. I move freely from this flatness to the illusion of depth responding to communication modalities to achieve a gestalt. I choose to work on multiple pieces concurrently. Ideas become clearer when they are played out across multiple themes and conversely, a cohesive body of work develops. I find great value in working directly from life. Still life studies, plein air paintings and figure drawing are routine practices that keep my skill current and inform my studio work.