Words and paint express and connect; both tell stories. In painting I am able to tap into a language that continually surprises me. I come into each story from another direction, gliding within a subtext, a dream. When I paint, I pull up those passages I wasn't able to write. It seems I have shifted from blank paper to open canvas.

As I work with paint, its language speaks to me. I feel atmosphere, mood, and emotion as the images rise up and come to life. And because complicated and flawed characters have always held me to a good book, I am drawn to figure painting. When I paint people, the characters evolve under my brush and the feelings they evoke wash color against a cheek, layer texture onto a folded hand, or touch light onto a lowered lid. A descriptive passage in a book is just like a painted scene, claiming a moment that reverberates with the essence of a story. And surely, a still life is more than just random placement of things. An object, vignette, or interior scene can hold enormous power in placement, shadow, color and light. Visual metaphor.

These painted stories are expressions from my own life, memory and imagination, and the finished pictures contain my narratives. Hopefully, like a good book, they connect.