Dedicated to contemporary realism, I have always loved the challenges involved in drawing and painting from life, so much so that I have spent half of my life in formal study and the other half chasing knowledge on my own terms. It has been thrilling to me to see representational art enjoy ever increasing acceptance in the art world in recent decades. More and more, as I paint, the decisions I make consistently reach for a negotiation between accuracy and selectivity. My goal is not to render evenly and indiscriminately, but to choose what to leave in and what to leave out in support of what I want to examine, communicate, or want the viewer to find in the work. There are endless choices made along the way. While we each see through the lens of our unique life experiences, I believe art has great power to connect us through our commonalities.