It has been my experience there are pivotal moments an artist can experience, some in an instant, that will open doors to an entirely new concept and direction.  Such was the case with the paintings I’ve developed in this collection that I call my “Painted Ladies” series.  I find this personally remarkable since it represents a new and exciting departure from my first love of Impressionism, a style that I have faithfully practiced for the past 20 years.

I’ve been deeply inspired by the works of Monet and his contemporaries all my life and have found that it spoke to the deepest part of my artistic soul. I have since cultivated a reputation and name for myself in my hometown of Staten Island, NY, mostly by working in this technique. My fascination with color, light and weather and its affect on the urban landscape always provided the most inspiration for me.

So it was quite a change when I challenged myself to create something entirely different for a local art show about 6 years ago with a very different theme. Here was a chance to go beyond my comfort zone and grow as an artist.

The resulting works of art essentially combined the themes of gestural female forms together with butterfly wings and colors (something I’ve been obsessed with ever since being a child). I found the wing patterns and dance-like forms took on new meaning by joining the expressive grace and beauty found in both. This direction has opened up a new world of possibilities exploring fantasy, expressive emotion and a much more contemporary use of composition and color, and tapped into a creative sensibility that was long brewing within me just waiting for the right vehicle to express it.

I find these turning points to be one of the most thrilling aspects of the creative process. No longer was I just an “Impressionist”, and in that realization, I came to understand that one should never make assumptions that limit themselves from exploring and growing.