I've discovered something magical about city streets and weather. The reflection of car lights and traffic signals on a rainy day, the blurry silhouettes of buildings when the streets are snow-covered, the endless play of light and weather - these elements dominate my art. I also try to capture the paradox of life in the city, where one can be in a crowd and yet feel alone - many of the people represented in my scenes are standing or walking apart.

My primary medium is oil and I paint fluid and rough strokes with both brush and palette knife, using a limited color palette that’s intended to be haunting and evocative. In the studio, I usually work on multiple pieces at once, a practice which gives me time to ponder and gauge my progress and next steps before beginning each new layer. I paint from references that I've meticulously chosen from an ever-growing repository of thousands of photos I have taken over the years. My main intent is not to capture the physical reality of a scene, but to express my own moods and feelings, as well as to trigger personal memories and emotions in my audience as they form their own interpretation of each piece.

DePaul University
Master of Science, 2009