My work could be characterized as “realistic” or even in some cases “photographic”, but something less exact is very much behind the work you see in the gallery. A lot of art is about capturing a moment in time, often just a glance, something that catches your eye for a split second. The world we look at changes all the time. Something can look different because of different light or a different angle due to a different point of view (two people can look at the same thing even if they are only a couple of feet apart and see something quite different.) This is particularly true in New England where seasonal changes transform our landscapes every year, often in unexpected ways. I use photography as a time-efficient sketchbook to capture that eye-catching image. But the camera is only a tool for me and an imperfect one at that. As I develop a painting, the photo is often a reference point for lights, darks and at least basic colors. However, somewhere in the course of that process I begin to change things because I remember the scene differently from what the photograph “says”. The photographic image doesn’t “feel” right. I remember the colors of the foliage as more vibrant or the shadows as deeper. I want the painting to be “true” to my experience of seeing the subject beyond mere photographic accuracy. Perhaps nostalgia creeps in because it triggered another memory of a similar place or time. Perhaps turmoil from a stormy sky or the wonder at the intricacy of a flower. Consciously or unconsciously, this all finds its way onto the canvas. Beyond these physical phenomena, what a viewer might be feeling and its sense of what it means to them at that moment can also change how the work is perceived. Remembering the object, scene or person adds yet another layer when we view something with overlays of emotion and associated memories. And sometimes the artist goes back and looks at a work only to see something he or she never realized they were thinking or remembering at the time it was created. Happens to me all the time!