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http://myartheart.com/
"Releasing the Artist Within"

Art is the ultimate mirror of our lives. Funny how art seems to take a back seat to so many other things in daily life, yet it is art that subsequent generations use to look into the past. Art tells all the stories.

Painting landscapes has been a powerful force in my life, a compelling adventure into the world of beauty, power and romance. Landscape paintings produce emotional memory, they are storytellers. The good landscape painting has a touch of mystery in it. Every time we gaze at it, it seems to shift slightly, telling a different story.

More often than not, I begin a landscape painting without any notion of what the final image will be. I am always surprised by what appears on the canvas as the image develops. This is the adventure, recognizing what is happening, finding that image in the paint. Then comes the enhancing, shaping, filling in, and most importantly -- knowing when to stop.

The military paintings I am involved in are very important to me. They allow me to participate in the world in a very unique way. To be able to honor people who risk their lives for a cause gives me deep satisfaction. The stories in the newspaper about our people who serve us are very real to me and in doing this work I have met many wonderful people who have touched my life.

I ache to paint the wide-open spaces, the vast prairies, the desert lands and the naked sea and sky. These are the places that have given me serenity in my life, the gift given to me and my way of passing it along.