Painting Energy Through Landscape
While landscape painting anchors much of my work, my deeper focus lies in the invisible forces that shape what we see. I'm drawn to the moment when energy becomes visible—when light hits a ridgeline, when atmosphere creates depth, when geological forces reveal themselves through sculptural terrain.
This isn't mystical thinking. It's observation. Everything we see in landscape is the result of energy in motion: erosion, weather, light, gravity. My paintings attempt to capture not just the result of these forces, but their ongoing presence.
The Landscape as Subject and Teacher
For me, landscape is more than scenery—it's a way of understanding how energy manifests as visible form. The Badlands embody this principle perfectly: dramatic terrain shaped by water, wind, and time. Every ridge, every color band, every shadow reveals the conversation between energy and matter that's been happening for millions of years.
When I paint the Badlands, I'm not documenting geology. I'm responding to what those forms communicate about process, about transformation, about the forces that shape everything we see.
Influences: Van Gogh and Burchfield
I'm deeply influenced by artists who understood that landscape painting could capture more than surface appearance. Vincent van Gogh painted the energy within the landscape—his cypress trees writhe with life force, his wheat fields pulse with movement. Charles Burchfield went even further, depicting sound, heat, and seasonal energy through visual means.
Both artists taught me to paint what I sense as much as what I observe. They showed that color could convey temperature, that brushwork could capture wind, that composition could make invisible forces visible.
Abstracted Realism as Method
My approach—abstracted realism—serves as a bridge between observation and interpretation. It's not about photographic accuracy; it's about capturing the essential character of place through expressive means.
Color becomes a vehicle for atmosphere and emotion. Brushwork conveys movement and energy. Composition creates the architecture of space and light. The paintings remain grounded in landscape while embracing the freedom to emphasize what matters most: the feeling of being in that place, witnessing those forces.
Montana's Terrain as Catalyst
Montana's dramatic vistas provide ideal subject matter for exploring these ideas. The vast skies, the sculptural landforms, the interplay of light and shadow across distance—all reveal energy in action. Weather moves visibly across the landscape. Light transforms color moment by moment. The scale makes forces visible that might be subtle elsewhere.
Living and working here means daily immersion in landscapes that demonstrate the principles I'm trying to capture: energy shaping form, light revealing structure, atmosphere creating depth and mood.
The Painting Process
When I approach a landscape painting, I'm investigating a specific question: What is the essential energy of this place? What forces are at work? How can color, form, and brushwork communicate that energy?
The paintings are built through layered processes—underpainting establishes structure, subsequent layers develop atmosphere and light, final marks create focus and movement. Each layer responds to what came before, creating depth that mirrors the layered complexity of actual landscape.
Invitation to Slow Viewing
These paintings reward sustained attention. The interplay between abstraction and recognition, between structure and atmosphere, between control and spontaneity—all of this reveals itself gradually. I invite viewers to look slowly, to let the eye discover relationships between color and form, to sense the energy that shaped both the landscape and the painting.
Each landscape painting is an investigation into how energy becomes visible—capturing not just what I see, but what I sense about the forces that create what we see.
