Edwin Dickinson once quipped, “Painting is drawing with the joy of color.” Indeed, most of my drawing work is commingled with my painting process. It's hard to distinguish one act from the other. In my paintings I don't draw first and fill in later, rather, I find the drawing as the painting moves along. As I work I'm thinking in terms of form, color, saturation, contour; taking each in turn and oscillating from one mode of thought to another in an effort to arrive at a cohesive gestalt.

I use graphite, charcoal, conte crayon, pastel, and watercolor since each of these offers different qualities to explore. Strict drawings are a respite from painting, a way to change gears, to work when I fatigue of painting or simply lack motivation (usually from fear of getting back into a painting when the risks seem too great or just sheer laziness). Sometimes the drawings take on a momentum that is all their own, and sometimes the drawings are a launch point for an idea that will be pursued in paint.

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