Drawing is the way I express awe for the process of life and the universe. Contemplation is how I gather awe. These two parts of the process - action and quiescence - alternate to form the totality of my artistic expression. Yet the soundless call which moves me is a mystery; even I do not know where it comes from.

Art is the way I explore life’s greatest mysteries. Through art, I experience the interplay between myself, the physical world, and the ultimate – the profound, underlying truth of all things that is both known and unknown. In the philosophy of Taoism, I have found both explanation and articulation for this process. According to Chuang-Tzu, the ancient Taoist philosopher, "Tao cannot be conveyed by either words or silence it's transcendental nature must be apprehended." Through art, I apprehend – and am apprehended. Through art, I understand and am understood.

Thus, the ‘soundless call’ that moves me to create art is a dual function of seeking truth and seeking to convey that truth to others – in a way that goes beyond words, that communicates through being apprehended, that is felt and experienced as much as it is thought. As Laurence Binyon puts it, "What the painter put into his work comes from it and flows over into our minds; and we recognize something which cannot be called intellectual only, sensuous only, or emotional only; it is wholeness of spirit which goes out, free and unafraid, into wholeness of universe."

For me, the work of art employs a triggering device – a call to seek and reflect – that makes conscious what has been buried in the unconscious and draws the viewer into that sublime awareness. In my work, I mine images and textures from throughout the natural world and combine them to create impressions of the ever-changing process of nature, adaptation, harmony, and the precarious existence of life. The drawings manifest scenes imbued with the element of the fantastic; they do not describe realistic space or settings. Rather, flora and fauna from different environments come together to create surreal scenes which hint at underlying unity.

In my life, the making of art is meditation. It is a process of letting go, of surrender, whereby I become a channel through which the universe can express itself. Part of the process for many of my pieces is laying down a foundational ink blot. This part of the process can be "guided" but is essentially random, which requires release and letting go. There is an interesting parallel between the interplay of the ink and water and the experience of consciousness itself. Light and dark go together and imply each other. The ink and water push each other back and forth to create the patterns and shades of gray that create the areas of visual interest. When the ink and water dry, the patterns themselves reveal the image. The pen work then becomes a process of discovery, of unveiling, a slow build-up of individual marks through which compositions emerge.

It is not only the image but the feeling that guides the process which is available for the audience to discover and contemplate. Through forms, I hope to convey to others that which is formless – awe, wonder, complexity, connection.