I think we can all be creative and artistic and even pursue the path professionally, ie pursue it as a way to support oneself. But when I was in my mid twenties, I needed the identity of being “creative and artistic” as much as I needed the profession. I needed to make a real adjustment, mentally, as to how I spoke about myself or how I carried on about my days. The decision, possibly the simplist in terms of what I needed to change in my life, required giving up other pursuits. I was in school in a program that was an utter distraction at that time, so the first thing I needed to do was stop schooling. The focus had already been there inside me from encounters I’d had with artists, or really their art, and I was living in Hungary. I had already taken so many of the steps to pursue the path. But that last one of really committing was the trickiest.

I am a painter, self-taught by means of watercoloring in plein aire for years as a travelling young adult. The medium of watercolor really informed my approach to painting, capturing images as I do today in oil. I have grown into an oil painter and my focus is atmosphere, sunlight or even artificial light. It is the way we see, particularly the way we see quickly within an age of shifting, agitated movement.

I make paintings, as opposed to photographs or drawings for example, because I love the possibilities of pigment and tactile painterly expression. My paintings celebrate the most common and familiar of themes, which for me is where I live. I want this on my wall, and I wonder what others wish to be reminded of in their daily lives as well. What kind of decor do they wish to experience if not a more beautiful version of where they too have lived.

The small town where I reside provides the fodder for my work. I take snapshots with my phone mostly, and occasionally I paint outdoors in watercolor. But I translate these images into larger paintings in oil in a loose and imprecise manner that is wet and chaotic. It is for me the most creative part of my day where I am filled with joy and courage. It is as essential to my well being as food, family, and friends.

Painting satisfies my itch to be thoughtless and impulsive. It is fast and furious and, conversely, when I’m too deliberate my paintings suffer. It’s a balance that I could never have learned through instruction, and only self-taught through years of working through my own experimentations in creativity.