Leap of Faith

Creativity is always a leap of Faith: You're faced with a blank page, a white canvas, or an empty stage.  Life is much the same way.

I set out to pursue my art degree at the age of 17.  I was young and bright-eyed with the whole world ahead of me.  I graduated with a Bachelors in Fine art, and felt I had earned the degree I had fought so very hard for.  What I didn't understand at the time, was that the true "education" would come not from Universities and Professors, but through trials and triumphs.  What I had learned about line, color, form, shape, and shadow would pale in comparison to the schooling ahead.

I was formally trained to understand the human shape and anatomy, but understanding the human heart is an essential component to creating pieces of art with true and lasting meaning.  I have come to believe that anyone can create art--in fact, all of us do in one form or another.  The techniques and principles of art can be taught.  True masters not only capture a figure, but the figurative.  They not only portray the realism offered in a portrait or a reflection, but cause the viewers to themselves reflect.

I do not consider myself in any degree a master, but one in training.  There are many marvelous and gifted artists in this world.  What I hope to offer is not simply another pretty picture.  My greatest desire is to bring comfort, joy, understanding, courage, and conviction to those who need it most.  I hope to draw not only on the techniques and principles I learned in my formal education, but more importantly from those I learned on my darkest days and through my longest nights.  Those pieces of education have become far more important strokes on my canvas than any I was ever critiqued or graded on.  Those bits of light and dark, shape and shadow, have become most essential and beloved tools.