Stilled Life Painting

Things are not as they seem. This is why I want to paint, and what I try to paint about, There are no ordinary places, ordinary things. Every object, place, becomes extraordinary by looking and looking again. When I work from photographs of relatives long gone I find I know them better than I did when they were alive. By asking the question " What If" I find an idea to paint about. When I paint about that idea, things become unpredictable. In a recent dream I was driving a car, stopped at an intersection in a strange city. A mangy brown bear in some sort of costume crossed in front of me. My windows were open and he crawled in - sat for a moment and crawled back out. Rather than paint the dream I wish to use dreams as a source of inquiry and make work that might describe the place between dreams and reality. I work in oil on canvas. My choices for imagery are often inspired by dreams and from nature. I look for evidence of an unexpected change or shift in my environment. Elements of transformation are of particular interest to me - weather, decay, shifting light, color.