First and foremost I am a realistic painter. However…

I have to put that qualifier because the term ‘realism’ implies rendering real scenes using all the tools of illusionistic perspective, lighting, and  form.

I am a realist in the subjects that grab my soul and that compel me to fill a canvas with a vision ot capture what I felt.  But often a fully rendered traditional realsitic scene, while perhaps beautifully accomplished, the final resulting image is finite.  People can look at it and absorb it in one gulp, bam a complete picture and move on.

I try to slow the viewer down.  I find other ways of twisting and portraying reality so that styles and forms overlap to give the ‘feel’ or realism but the image is slower is more complex.  Imagery torn apart and rebuilt as a new whole.