I began oil painting in 2004, under the guidance of local Crested Butte artist, John Ingham. Having never painted before, John first helped me begin to change the way I perceive things in nature like form, shadow, color and values. I realized there was so much more going on than what I had originally perceived.

To be able to capture some of this on canvas quickly became a desire and a goal. The more I learned, the more eager I was to try and apply what I was beginning to understand. Having grown up writing, I realized most of what I wrote about was my impressions of nature; light, color, form, mood. When John first asked why I wanted to paint, I realized it was for the same reasons I had wanted to write. Simply put, it was to attempt to express what I saw and felt in Nature.