For me, painting is abstract. The idea itself is abstract. I make paintings that can be easily named; that is, the viewer knows what the content is. I am interested in showing the structures and forms (abstractions) within those parts of nature that I am continually drawn to. These oil paintings--my first after a twenty-five year hiatus--are fleshed out versions of earlier concerns. Continuity is not only important to me, it is unavoidable. The agitated frenzy of nature itself barely hides the violence and hope. Though contradictory, both are also very attractive.