I’ve always been drawn to the great artists of the past especially the Italian Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo, Raphael and Da Vinci. Central to their art was the study of anatomy along with studying nature in all of its beauty and complexity. I began at a young age to copy the drawings and paintings of the great masters to learn and understand how they created such powerful and beautiful artwork. I went on to receive my BFA in Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and my MFA from Indiana University.
Central to understanding the figure is working from the live model. Traditional drawing sessions include making many gesture drawings that are made in a minute or two that force the artist to capture the essence of the figure in as few lines as possible. From there, poses become longer and longer so that a figure drawing can become more and more developed. Many of these developed drawings then become the basis for paintings. I work in a classical tradition of first making a detailed drawing of the subject and then making a painting based on the drawing. This allows me to first workout the values and composition before color is added to the final work.
