I finally came to my senses. Not the physical ones. I use them all the time for everything. I mean the perceptual senses. The senses that make you who you are and how you think and feel. Your sense of humor, your sense of wonder or your sense of self. There are so many senses it’s hard to keep track especially since they change as life experiences change and as you get older. I believe that’s why work changes and matures because of changing perceptual sensory responses.

In my work, I strive to discover those senses that define me at this point in my life. Each piece can have multiple senses that overlap to make the whole. For example, one of my favorite paintings—A Bottom and Three Tops—has a sense of humor overlapped by a sense of order overlapped by a sense of scale and balance. A viewer may not have a sense of all those senses driving their emotional response, but I’ve done my job if they respond in any way. Preferably a smile!

My paintings begin with one or more of the senses whether I recognize it immediately or not. In most cases a painting begins with my sense of design, aesthetic principles and an initial idea. The idea may be set up as a still life or be a “found composition” that molds into an interesting concept that’ll sustain my interest during the entire process and engage the viewer past a cursory view.

This exploration of my senses allows me to meander through varied subject matter to create interesting paintings that touch the senses of others. That’s always my intent!