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My predominant medium was 35mm film until very recently when I switched to digital photography and video. Neither the terminology nor any distinction between my digital media paintings, illustrations and graphics, mixed media designs, or my photographs is important to me.
My primary subjects are coastal landscapes, wetlands and shore birds, gardens, women, and architecture. These subjects symbolically represent the scientific, metaphysical, and artistic concepts that motivate me.
My e-mail signature quotation serves as a concise statement of my purpose as an artist: "Behind all these manifestations is the one radiance, which shines through all things. The function of art is to reveal this radiance through the created object." (Attributed to Joseph Campbell). In other words, I attempt to portray the sublime teachings of my personal belief system in artistic work.
It necessarily follows that "The inner necessity is ... the principle of the art and the foundation of forms and colours' harmony. [Kandinsky] defines it as the principle of the efficient contact of the form with the human soul. ... The art work is born from the inner necessity of the artist in a mysterious, enigmatic and mystic way, and then it acquires an autonomous life; it becomes an independent subject animated by a spiritual breath." (Wikipedia: Kandinsky)
I use colors in original ways that do not derive from any photographic influences. Most of the abstraction process takes place in camera rather than after scanning or post processing. A variety of painters have inspired or influenced me to some degree. Those influences include Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Wassily Kandinsky. Although some of the backgrounds in my photographs might resemble impressionistic textures, my work is not impressionism. People often misapply the term to misty and out-of-focus but otherwise ordinary photographs.
I am interested in the way streams of light and color seem to flow from behind a subject and affect the human soul. Color combinations, and our perception of them, can convey exalted or mystical moods. Thus, light and color themselves are the more compelling subject.
I use a variety of both traditional and digital darkroom techniques to go beyond the limitations of the camera to achieve a personal style. A personal computer is merely another tool that helps me to reinterpret my photograph's original colors and prepare them for archival (Giclée) printing. My process includes suppression of film grain and scanning artifacts and strong color adjustments. I do not use artificial image effects or digital filters.
Mimetic: relating to an imitation; ... Using imitative means of representation ... imitating or representing something: most photographs are mimetic representations of the real world.
Abstract: Considered apart from concrete existence ... Having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation.
Impressionism: the aim of reproducing the immediate impression or mood of things, especially the effects of light ... rather than form or structure. (These definitions are condensed from www.thefreedictionary.com).
Visionary Art is art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences. (Wikipedia)
Synthesis: the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity. (dictionary.com)
Tone Poem: While many images may compare in subject matter to representative (mimetic) photographs, they are unlike traditional photographs, in that their imagery is intended to inspire viewers to imagine or consider scenes, images, specific ideas or moods, and not to focus on following traditional patterns of photography. (Adapted from a Wikipedia article about music)
