Tonalist paintings often suggest the abstract. My landscape painting has been deeply influenced by the Abstract Expressionist collection at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York and in more recent years by my study of American Tonalist painters and the time in which they lived (1880 -1915).
I try to express the tranquility of nature, the drama and mystery of diminished or diffused light of sunrises, sunsets, moonlight and mist. And my goal always is to reach for the soul of a subject, it's spirit. There is often a sense of the spiritual in my paintings.
Working in oil on stretched linen or panels, and referring not only to my observation of the natural world, I also draw from my memory and imagination, as well. Working outdoors (en plein air) to gather information and bring it back to the studio is so important to many landscape painters, so I do this as well. In the studio I continue working on some outdoor sketches to create finished paintings or I use others as references for larger pieces which I start and finish in the studio.
So many painters from the Tonalist period, George Inness, Ranger, C. W. Eaton, Ben Foster and one from whom I have learned so much, Birge Harrison, were and remain my inspiration. In the end each painting is an adventure blending what I now observe and what I know of the past, with what I feel, remember and imagine each day.