I am blessed to have lived my entire life here in East Tennessee. None of my travels have afforded me more inspiration than the place where I was born. I step out my back door into evidence that the reason I am an artist is all around me. I make images that are derived from nature. I find it edifying that the work I do is an extension of reality without being a mere reproduction of what can be seen.
I have always had an affinity for rocks. They have physical, psychological and spiritual relevance in my art-making process. Living in the foothills of one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth, I am provided some of my favorite subject matter. After a short drive I can easily be photographing phenomenal formations of gigantic boulders. Alongside these monoliths I find their ancient relatives. Stones that have been weathered by the changes of many seasons range in size and type from mammoth to the tiniest pebbles imaginable.
I am passionate about the infinite variety of their shapes and forms. I never tire of their beauty and their exquisite compositional possibilities. I digitally alter my photographs to adjust their color, exposure, resolution, contrast and definition. Because I consider myself a colorist, I abstract the color to symbolically express spiritual ideas and themes. Although I manipulate color without mercy, I cannot divorce myself from the integrity of the textural surfaces. Fissures, cracks, pitting and the effect of lichen and stains from other organic materials on rock surfaces intrigue me.
Layering thin washes of color and value permits me to work almost as slowly as the weathering process itself. I do not like to rush things. If I am patient, all of the artistic quandaries I encounter resolve themselves without too much duress. I enjoy experimenting with new processes and find that I often combine drawing, painting and sometimes collage to exact the effects I like the best. If I failed to give God the glory for permitting me to explore the gifts He has given me, I would be truly remiss. He allows me to communicate the beliefs of my faith through my imitations of His handiwork, and I am eternally grateful. I am His, and what I do is His. I pray that you will see Him in something I have done.
“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
Psalm 40:2
Art and Thoughts On It 