Landscapes and Streetscapes

My media of choice is gouache, and my favorite subjects are landscapes and studies of animals and the natural world.

Gouache is water soluble like watercolor but can be worked as a pale aqueous wash or as a thick impasto like oil paint. Underpainting and working light on dark are also possible, as well as incredibly vivid color. For many years now I have been experimenting with gouache alone; and gouache with layers of aging varnishes, crackle varnishes, and tinted glazes. Each imparts a different patina and depth, and allows the creation of faux old masterpieces like the tongue-in-cheek "Gainsborough" portraits of pets, or the twilight landscapes inspired by the early California Tonalists.

Many of my paintings are evening scenes—old neighborhoods, quiet gardens and shorelines, painted at the time of day when edges blur, details become merely light and shadow, and when representational images verge on the abstract.