I might not work in my studio every day in the summer but this is the time I’m collecting visual imagery for the work I’ll be making in the future. The ocean, hikes through the woods to find waterfalls and kayaking on the lake are all things I’m pulling from when I start new work. I try to be like a sponge when I’m in nature soaking in the data through all my senses. Breathing it in, letting it seep into my pores to be drawn upon later in the studio. I don’t paint from photographs because I feel that a photograph is the record of only one sense and I’m trying to give the viewer the feeling of being immersed in nature. I want my paintings to remind you of the feeling of being washed over by a wave, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the smell of the water.