Whenever I am asked what inspires me
I almost always start with water.
I am not a realistic painter.
I do not paint landscapes that show the sea or its rumblings.
But the site of waves crashing and pulling back to the sea nonetheless truly inspire me.
Living on the water is the absolute top of my list.
Feeling the energy every day.
Watching storms roll in.
Watching fog creep to the shore and blanket the sand with a silhouette of softness.
Watching frost crystallize and make sand candy coated.
Watching ice glaze every pebble and every spike of grass.
There is nothing like the sea.
Nothing.
It is THE most inspirational of all things on Earth to get me to paint.
If I could harness the energy of those waves.
And somehow ride them to the shore and back out again.
I could live forever in its grasp.
The sea calls to me.
It knows my name and it uses it so frequently that we are dear friends.
I try to answer, but my voice is mute.
I want to speak, but the sheer power of the sea stifles me and I am silent.
How can I speak and be heard when the sea is so powerful and vast.
I am merely a silent watcher.
I deserve no respect from her or any consequence.
I derive such pleasure and drive from her force.
And I am happy to just be here and grasp anything of her that I can.
My paint feels it.
My canvases are full of the sounds.
My world revolves around the immense feeling that I will never capture.
My heart wells with her rumblings.
I am silent
but my canvas
speaks.
