As an oil painter, I am constantly looking for subjects to paint. When I am out in nature, I always try to visualize what it would look like as a painting. I imagine how I would translate the colors, the shapes, the movement, and the atmosphere into a painting. Nature provides infinite variations and challenges; the colors of nature, in particular, inspire me. Always painting from photographs, I try to recreate the colors in oils as accurately as I can. Sometimes I pick photos that look fantastical, and I love being able to say that the scene in the painting actually existed. Sometimes I pick a subject that is rather ordinary, such as a simple flower, and make it extraordinary by exaggerating the size and adding dramatic textures. Through my style, I try to convey realism when the painting is viewed from a distance, while up close it is full of texture, movement, and energy. I hope the observer feels as though they could reach into the painting and experience the scene as if they were there.