My first  moment of excitement over an artistic work was through the film West Side Story. Such color, such movement;  I

was only ten. A new world opened when I discovered art on paper and canvas. Bernard Buffet was my first influence, and how different was his style; angular, monotone, a whole new facet of painting and one that has stuck with me for years.

 

Schooling later taught me the basics, but not the feeling for my works, so I threw out nearly every idea I had been taught ( they were other people's choices, not mine, anyway) and let the brush, the pen, the graphite stick be my teacher. This truly has only happened in the last decade.

 

I want people to be stopped by my works, surprised at  a straight line where there should be a curve, red where one

would expect blue, and often a blank space where their own imagination can fill in where I want to challenge their own thoughts.

 

After all, art is a challenge, one i hope my viewers can appreciate and use to become enveloped in the moment.