This is a collection of paintings spanning the past two years - beginning in the fall of 2008. Some are more finished works and some are sketches done in one (or a few) sittings. All were painted from life up until recently/the past year when I have started working/composing more heavily from imagination and memory. Generally though, in retrospect I feel my work has always been much more about the inner life of the elements of the painting - the nature of the painting that is created through the interrelationship and juxtaposition of color and shape - much more than copying something naturallistically. Working directly from life can be a great way of consciously composing a painting in order to work within the painting un-self consciously but it can also be problematic if the physical things being looked at take president over the needs of the painting leading to incidental painting.