Paintings are my favorite type of art that I create, but paintings are not limited to only canvases. I’ve painted pianos for public play, cars and even dog sculptures. My paintings are saturated with color and rise from their surface with lush texture that I create with palette knives and paint. The act of painting takes on many art forms including drawing, the physical acy of applying paint and in my work, sculptural elements created in paint and mixed media.

I find much of my inspiration for my artwork in my own backyard garden. Form, color, texture are all there and my garden constantly influences my work. I’m also inspired by decaying, desolate landscapes, like Coney Island which I explored in the 1980’s and which formed the basis for much of my work and my reimagining of my childhood memories of this once grand mythical place. I’m inspired by archeology and I create paintings with multiple layers to be explored.

As an artist who has never had a dedicated studio space, the $25,000 would go a long way to help me establish a professional studio where I could expand the scope and scale of my paintings. Much of my career has been spent creating workspaces in my kitchen and in my backyard. Paint and supplies haven’t gotten any cheaper lately and some of those funds would also go to fund new supplies. I would love to create a new series of monumental paintings based on my childhood memories of Coney Island.