“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” ~

When I happened upon this quote by Marcel Proust several years ago it’s truth resounded inside me. It helped crystalize both my purpose for making drawings and paintings as well as my perspective on making them. Sixteen simple words from a great author whose work I had unfortunately never read.

Making art is something I was compelled to start ‘doing’ in my early twenties. I had no practical instruction to speak of and no clear vision of how to build a life with art at it’s center. Eventually I decided that channeling my creative energies into a career in the world of design was perhaps a more sensible course to follow.

But over the years the desire to create paintings and drawings persisted and deepened. I am thankful that at this point in my life making art has become a cherished daily practice, one that is informed by a longing to experience life and the heart of reality in a more direct and less conditioned way. Slowly I have come to realize that for me being an artist is not something I choose to ‘do’, but rather something I do to ‘be’.

Cezanne’s called for art to ‘give us a taste of nature’s eternity’. Endeavoring to rediscover this eternity and share it with others is the purpose that motivates me. The beauty and magic of day to day experiences with nature are the simple seeds of inspiration that circuitously grow to become the pieces you see here. My hope is that these paintings and drawings might in some way elicit in you the joy of seeing with ‘new eyes’ as well as a remembering of our shared Being.