Still Life with Orchids Painting

Recently I have been working on a series of smaller paintings, still lives and portraits, in which I try to pay attention in the umpteenth degree to every little thing. God is in the details. I am looking at the beauty of reality. I am finding the fascinating small variations in value and color-- absolutely everything on this planet has a gradation. With my larger narrative paintings I am immersing myself in my love of telling stories and watching the subtle psychology of human interaction. These new still lives, even though an entirely different genre, are really rather similar. I am constructing miniature little worlds with the interactions of objects and colors also telling a story. When I tear down a still life set up in my studio after months of painting I have a strange feeling of nostalgia, like when the first cool winds of September announce the end of summer. Only my paintings remain as a memory. But it is so much more than a construction, it is about the process of exploring and discovering this amazing complexity that is the visual world. I remember when I first became seriously interesting in drawing and painting, I was passionate about landscapes. A cloud, a tree, even the asphalt pavement suddenly became a marvelous mix of fantastic colors. All it took was the desire to really see and the world was born again. I am still interested in people and their stories, and am planning on using all my secret coffee shop sketches for the next big painting. My portraits are about the details as well, but instead of a story, they are a reflection of the nature of the person. I will admit I have a talent for finding likeness and beauty, and in the end, it is portraiture that I love the most.