What's with the Newspaper below your painting?
Although it's usually subtle, you can make out the newspaper, book pages or maps that sleep below the surface of all my work. The location of the subject is reflected in the newspaper that I choose, with the stories of the people of that city woven into the painting, buzzing through the paint. Read About how I Stumbled Upon Using the Newspaper
How long have you been creating art?
Art has been the constant in my life, always. In 2011 I quit my corporate job to pursue a full-time art career. Balancing 2 baby boys and a new art career proved challenging but worth every late night at the easel.
Today, I work out of my studio storefront in vibrant Downtown Phoenixville, PA. Phoenixville, an old steel mill town once known for manufacturing, is now best known for its rebirth symbolized by the Phoenix. A truly unique and exciting place to live.
Where can I find your work?
You can view my portfolio here. I have weekly hours at the studio where you can come in and see my work in person. Those hours are listed at the bottom of the page. Additionally, you can schedule a studio visit by clicking the box below.
I travel during the summer/fall months showing my work at outdoor art exhibitions. Please take a look at my current schedule of upcoming shows.
Do you take commissioned work?
Yes, I do work with clients on custom pieces. If you are interested in exploring a commission idea, please reach out and we can discuss the process in more detail.
Why do you paint cityscapes?
I like to paint what we see everyday. We are in a constant state of inspiration and I usually choose to pluck my paintings from what is right in front of my face. At any given time, I can whip out a phone, camera or sketchbook to record the info that I need for work on a later painting.
Cityscapes are especially attractive to me probably because I grew up in the blue collar city of Rochester NY. My bedroom window looked out at Kodak park and Kodak Park’s smoke stacks looked right back at me each day. Cities are full of interesting slices of life. The backside row homes well worn in and passed on from family to family, the alleys with the kicked over crates and sweaty cooks bent over smoking their take 5 cigarettes, the soaring high yet slightly crooked homes that housed royalty once falling down piece by piece unable to support the years that have passed without care. I’m a story teller with paint, somehow telling my own through the images that pour out.
What are some of your larger past projects?
In the late summer of 2015, I completed my first mural, Welcome to Phoenixville, on the corner of Starr and Bridge Street in Phoenixville, PA.
Since then, I've completed three additional large wall murals and am working on concepts for several more at this time.
To read more about how I create my murals, check out this blog post.
To see more about my larger projects, check out my mural page.
To learn more about purchasing a mural poster, please click here.
What is your painting process?
Working in oils, I sketch in my subject right on the board,and work in thin layers of paint allowing areas of the newspaper to show through creating noise and adding depth to the piece.
I start my paintings on a surface of absolute chaos...random stories and images of the city screaming at me in all directions. As I paint, I am slowly building order .
The idea that we are all connected through place is a theme that I have been focusing heavily on. I want people to walk away from my work armed with a new lens to see the world.