Close Observations

"In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false." - Edgar Degas

Returning to a painting that has already been started is my favorite part, the shapes are there, the composition is there, and now I get to create an illusion. This is where I become most involved in my work. Close observations, slight shifts in warm to cool, highlight to shadow, one object and another. They become a means to see, no longer tangible objects. I look for texture, to mimic the material reality with paint. But I don't claim to be perfect, I paint to show what I see; to express, not to create an illusion of reality, but an illusion of the mind. In painting the object, in taking the time to observe it the object has become more than it was sitting on the shelf. It has become something to consider. That is why I paint, to find beauty in the everyday whether it be a rock, a glass lantern or a landscape. I paint to create an illusion of a thought.