Mermaid with moon and floating lights Painting

. I am self-taught artist specializing in oil painting. My subjects include tropical still life, landscapes, flowers and narrative fantasy paintings. I take a classical approach to my paintings paying special attention to form and richness of color. My foray into the art world started of with realism, which then morphed into applying the lessons to realistic fantasy and then abstracting and creating a new visual language. I work in series and I like change and new things, especially new ideas. I try to express these new ideas in my artwork. I find in most cases a series of about 10 to 20 paintings helps me explore the ideas effectively. So, I try out new ideas until they stick and make sense. One of my current series took practice of 20 16x20 panels and 6 large canvases painted over at least twice. I learn by failing, again and again, then picking myself up and painting the final result. As I am working on the series, I go very quiet with communications, its only when I am done the series is revealed. What I am working on now: Ever since coming to south Florida on family vacation decades ago, I have been fascinated by its rich history, its endless variety of plants, unique wildlife and of course sunrises, sunsets and the beaches. Now that I am fortunate enough to live here, I have an opportunity to be immersed in the river of sensory experiences that pulse through everyday life. With south Florida being effected by the climate change and rising seas, I feel like I should document its true uniqueness in my own way, show others a sensory landscape that might be gone within few decades. Like most artists, I have begun to draw and paint at an early age. I was born with a heart defect and a small trachea, so I was unable to participate with a lot of physical activity that kids my age were able to. My heart was unable to keep up with physical activity and small trachea made a regular cold sometimes a hospital emergency visit. So that along with a pad of paper and pen was my childhood. This is also when I found the word mythology books and the original Grim fairytales. I grew out of a hole in my heart, found strength in my voice, but I never grew out of my love for drawing and paintings.