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For forty years, I have used my passion for watercolor and drawing to render in paint, wildflowers, trees, pods, and views of the landscape that have become a part of my consciousness. It has been an experimental, joyful, professional, thoughtful, and often times, a struggling quest.

I was reared in small Kansas towns, and in both Kansas cities, consequently, there is an appreciation for that duality. But my roots are steeped in the expansion of country life. From youth to adulthood, I have observed rock formations, colorful insects, river beds, clouds that became "things", leaf forms that made" talking faces", tall grasses that waved, and have inhaled the deep timber smells that bring back memories of that earthiness. I began in early childhood, wanting to paint with my prang watercolors. Along the way, I acquired a longing for painting what I felt and saw as a personal form of renewal.

Like many artists, the beauty of rural landscape, languid skies, vegetation, waterways, and brilliant flowers, which thrive abundantly in this region, inspires me.

The qualities of a Kansas day are never exactly the same as any other. All affect me: time of year, atmospheric changes, elusive shadows, and perception of distant hills and meadows. As a plein-air painter, I must solve the problems of these moments. With an artist's mind, I rely on these elements for an expression of my painting and drawing experience. I thrill at the feeling of paint under my brush. I use only the finest materials, handmade acid free paper and the best possible paints. After sketching, I go quickly to capture and energize my first impression: this being an all day venture; it fills me.

Only later in the studio, do I meditate on what' s been done and on each painting to its final completion. That may take days, weeks or even months, challenging and testing me beyond technical parameters. Each in the end is something new, a tribute to what I feel about my habitat and its Kansas eloquence. It's the best therapy for my spirit.