I have always been drawn to being outdoors and being creative. My passions come together in my paintings which are based on personal experiences in nature especially with skies, trees, and birds. In the landscape, I intend to convey a specific place at a specific moment in time with its own particular light. My landscape paintings are based on memories and photographs of places and events but also reflect my internal world and emotions. Recently I have been moving from an impressionistic style toward more abstraction.When painting birds. I photograph them in their natural environments and use the photos as a resource for paintings. I emphasis the "personality" of the bird often choosing photos in which the bird is looking at the viewer. I sometimes paint birds in composed groups which reflect human styles of interacting or place them on an abstract background portrait-style. I value deep connection with nature and hope to create a similar feeling of connection in the viewer.