In my paintings, I use saturated colors, abbreviated detail, and throbbing contrasts to create loose, simple compositions full of energy. Although my work is representational, I am not interested in recreating or even capturing a scene. I am interested in the unique emotional and even spiritual impact that paint on canvas can have on a viewer. So the recognizable forms aren't engaged in narrative or symbolism; they are just convenient agents by which the paint works its own wonder. By far the single greatest influence on me as a painter is the late great Richard Diebenkorn.

I use a simple and direct process of painting that encourages a child-like playing with paint and discourages over-thinking. I work very quickly, leveraging the fast drying time of acrylic paint. Focusing on large shapes and values, I lay down an underpainting and then block in color, highlighting minimal detail with the retouching of values.

In the painting process, there is a crucial spiritual element of letting go and not worrying about the results. So a successful painting must have a freshness about it - an element of chance and risk. Painterly strokes, occasional oozes, drips, and accidents tell the story of risks taken and speak to the supremacy of paint over subject. When everything works, I want the way in which I go about painting to have a bearing on the way in which the viewer connects with it - not by intellectual process but by that unnamable and effortless power of paint to touch our spirits and point them upward.