My home state of Wisconsin is on the “Fresh Coast” of the U.S., surrounded on 3 sides by the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. It's a gentle landscape with northern forests, iconic farms, rolling fields, and vast horizons of blue water. I grew up in a large and loving family where appreciation of nature and the importance of environmental stewardship was stressed. Painting in oil allows me to represent the saturated colors and textures of nature as I see them. I love to use expressive brushstrokes to develop impressionistic backgrounds that allow the viewer to interpret the image in his own mind and experience. I often use palette knife and brushed impasto techniques to bring the foreground and objects into sharper, contrasting focus. Lately, my work has been evolving to include more detailed studies of wildlife. I frequently enjoy painting en plein air and am self-taught. I find particular joy in the works of John Singer Sargent, (makes me cry with wonder when I look at his paintings), Monet, and Vermeer.
