I explore a range of imagery, often from nature: seascapes, cacti, icebergs, venus flytraps, ships, bones, to name a few. I move back and forth between clear representation and abstraction. While I begin with, and hope to arrive at, a satisfying image, the painting process is more one of exploration and discovery: ideas, feelings and energies that emerge are collected and stored, I like to think, within the paint itself, almost as in a battery. I mostly paint with oils because they are so well-suited to this process, since they constantly fluctuate between opposing states: wet and dry, transparent and opaque, rough and smooth, dark and light.