Artist StatementFor the last few years my field of concentration has been the study of light as perceived by the human eye: the contrast, reflectivity, and luminescence of gold leaf worked with the colors and value of paint, polymer resin, dry metallic pigments, and glass. As the light changes and the viewer moves around the painting the gold becomes lighter, darker, projects and recedes relative to the paint. While not specifically "western", I think my heart has been influenced by growing up on the high desert of northern Arizona with the open spaces, the emptiness, subtle shifting colors and where it's possible to think there may be voices in the wind. On ArtAn artist should have something to say. And not say it.Good art is not a statement. It's a conversation.An artist making a clear statement is creating a poster. Art should engage, draw in and talk back to the viewer, including the artist, depending on what he or she brings to the moment. This is like talking to yourself and is very worth while. On LifeEveryone has to be somewhere all of the time. So while you're there you might as well make something good to eat.