I am an Art Teacher at Coal City High School. I love the Lord. I am married to the most wonderful woman in the whole world, Erin.

Artist's Statement

My desire to create continues to progress as an artist. I imagine my work reflecting the beauty and wonder of nature. I envision a vast world full of beautiful landscapes filled with creation’s pattern and rhythm depicting the creativeness found in the surrounding universe. I am exploring the associations of pattern and rhythm in nature and the creativeness found in the details. My work incorporates original characters interacting within a greater landscape. It is within these narratives that I explore design found in nature as well as integrate imagined design; actual design juxtaposed against my own imagined design. It is my aim to achieve a consensus that the lush patterns in my work echo that of the awe-inspiring creation around us.

As the viewer engages with my work, they are drawn into a fantasy world that is derived from the natural world. The intricate designs found in nature are a springboard for my imagination to create fantasy land-scapes in which my original characters can interact within a narrative. The medium I have chosen to work with, oil paint, lends itself to a beauti-ful and rich color palette. I have been exploring a mix of traditional and non-traditional applications of the oil paint. I apply the paint with sponge and dry brush techniques to the forms within the landscape. This is how I accomplish the textural quality of the surface of objects within the paint-ing. This technique is inspired by my fondness for mid-century illustration and animation background paintings. Using this technique with a bright and whimsical palette supports my aim to evoke a childlike wonder in the viewer as they enter the fanciful worlds I create.

There is an inexhaustible world of inspiration around us in the opulence of nature. It is from this source that my work continues to de-velop and grow. I will always be drawn to the beauty found in nature and from there be moved to create.