Art and the Issue of Success

Brown Paper Sack Under Natural Light, 2008
Oil on Canvas Mounted on Panel, 16" x 18"


Will my art ever become saleable, widely recognized in my lifetime? I would like to think so, but it is not likely.

I paint too laboriously, deliberately, slowly and ponderously. Each painting can take months to complete, and producing two or three paintings a year is not a recipe for commercial success.

But do I really want that kind of success? Being commercially successful has never been one of my ambitions.

My art is an expression of my journey through life and the results of just living each day. It is a document, of my life and my relationship to others, to community, to society, etc. It is my social and spiritual connection to make the world a better place. It is my life’s work, and my main concern is to produce the finest work that I can with the current skills and talents that I possess.

I make paintings not because I want to, but because I have to. It comes from within me. It is not a want but a need. One cannot commodify a need. One can only express it, share it, leave it in the world as a personal legacy.

Make no mistake; I would love being widely recognized and even successful. It would be good for the ego. But would it be ultimately good for the creative spirit and process that we need to keep us truly alive?

The Integrity of the Painted Surface

Paper Cup with Seam, 2012
Oil on Canvas Mounted on Panel, 22" x 24"

In the last couple of years, I find myself working with thinner and thinner layers of paint, thus getting away from the effects of thick layers and impasto, even in the highlighted areas.

My reasoning for this change is to eliminate any textural, sculptural or three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional picture plane.

I am not a sculptor, but consider myself a "pure painter".

It seems that the consensus in the Pacific Northwest, where I live, many of the painters I have talked to feel the thicker the paint buildup on a flat surface the more expressive, the more painterly.

I have to disagree. The medium of paint, when painting directly from nature (i.e., to express representation or realism), should convey or express three-dimensional reality in two dimensions in order to maintain the integrity of the two-dimensional picture plane.

The above work I finished last week, I hope, illustrates my point.

The Relationship between Artist and Society

Green Plastic Bottle, 2006
Oil on Canvas Mounted On Panel, 14" x 24"

Art must be created within the context of community or society at large.

Art forms evolve by the artist interacting and communicating with other artists and individual members within the society in which they are participants.

Art forms also evolve through the artist’s perceptions of the human condition of a society in a particular historical time and place.

Therefore, there is a symbiotic and an essential relationship between artist and society.

Size Matters

Red Tin, 2005

Oil on on Canvas Mounted on Panel, 12" x 10"

Detergent Bottle  II, 2007

Oil on Canvas Mounted on Panel, 22" x 24"

Above are two examples of the various sizes of my work.

I tend to work small (the largest, 22" x 24,the smallest 12 x 10"), The reason for the small sizes of my work is: 1) limited studio space, 2) the intimacy of the painting itself.

Intimacy is one of the most important elements of my work.

To paint still life subjects on large canvases would be like working in a field, which is more appropriate for abstract expressionist styles, such as, Mark Rothko and his color field paintings. The viewer looking at a large work, I feel, would get lost in the qualities of surface, sacrificing intimacy between painting (subject matter) and the viewer and the potential for mystical experiences of the utilitarian objects I employ in my still life paintings.

I want the viewer to have a religious experience when viewing my paintings, to reflect on and to see these plastic containers that are taken for granted, as sacred objects.

The Importance of Edges in a Painting

Orange Cap & Plastic Cup Under Natural Light, 2009
Oil on Canvas Mounted on Panel, 16" x 18"


The issue of edges in my work, over the years, has become an important issue to me to the point of obsession. The edgework in my paintings between object and space tend to be soft and diffuse. Negative and positive space (object, background and foreground) are blended into each other to render a misty, fog-like effect.

Trees, houses, city streets, skyscrapers, parked cars, fences, roads disappearing into mist have always fascinated me with a sense of mystery, of the mystical.

I try to capture these mysterious and mystical qualities in my still life paintings. I want the viewer to perceive and understand that these plastic, recyclable containers can be seen and sensed in many other contexts besides their original intended purpose.

I want to give divine status to my subject matter, these modern, utilitarian objects that express our age.

Getting a Good Start

When painting from objects for a still life painting, the most important aspect of this process is getting to the essence of the object(s), what actually defines (describes) appearances in our world. Thus, what I do as a painter is to de-objectify the object(s) by squinting to eliminate detail. All that’s visible is light and shadow, therefore simplifying and reducing appearances to the effects of light. As a painter, I do not paint the object, I paint light and the absence of it (shadows).

Modern Still Life Painting, Part 2



Detergent Bottle I, 2006
Oil on Canvas Mounted on Panel, 22" x 24"


This painting is the first I had completed in the Detergent Bottle series. I left wide open spaces for the backgrounds, allowing me the freedom to explore a variety of brushstrokes to express paint qualities, as in Mark Rothko’s color field paintings, as well as the effects of light.