Virtually all my work from the last forty-five years or so deals with the dairy farm in Northern New York on which I have lived my entire life. The pen & ink still-lifes, along with those in watercolour, are from within my old red farmhouse. They depict ordinary household objects in the chance arrangements from our everyday lives. The spray cans, crumpled-up paper towels, and the Oreo packages that lurk on the countertops or hide in the drawers of our bathrooms and kitchens are drawn as I find them. I love this stuff. I love drawing it. The messy, distracting details that other artists leave out – that’s what my pictures are about. In recent years I have focused on the landscape of the farm and, in particular, State Highway 68 as it runs by my house. These drawings are done in dry pastel on black paper. In the sight, sound, and smell of the passing cars, the road is a nearly constant presence in my life. Consequently, the pastels are about more than just visual appearances. I want to evoke the odor of the exhaust fumes (I love the smell of exhaust fumes in the morning), the heat of the asphalt on a hot summer day, the chill of the damp air on a rainy evening. Or the “fwoosh” of a passing car as I fetch the paper at sunrise. Or the audible silence when the road goes quiet.

In what has become a secondary career in set design and painting, I generally work with people who have little to no art experience of any sort. It is a large part of my job to teach them whatever drawing and painting skills are necessary to the task at hand. All this is usually done under fire because there simply isn’t time to teach these skills separately from the actual execution of the set painting.

When Guy Berard and Roger Bailey were teaching at St. Lawrence University, they encouraged me to interact with the advanced art students, giving them advice and second opinions about their work. With those who were interested, our talks would evolve into regular discussions. A similar situation developed with a couple of BFA majors at SUNY Potsdam who had painted for me on the operas at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam. At their request, I visited their studios on regular occasions to critique their paintings.

In addition, I have done workshops in watercolor techniques that focus on the fundamentals and on skill development, teaching students what they need to know in order to find their own way of expressing themselves with the watercolor medium. I enjoy working with and teaching students. Helping them to grow and establish self-confidence is a rewarding experience.