Even in my abstracts I need a unifying theme to tie the paintings together into one set -- such as in my series Pictures at an Exhibition, inspired by a musical composition. In my landscapes, paintings depicting actual scenes, I must have actually been there, so I can bring back memories of the emotional impact the scenes made on me. Sometimes my landscapes border on the abstract, as I try to recapture and express these moments.

While I was painting an Italian landscape scene on tile for a friend who was building a house, I became intrigued by the challenge of landscapes. And I conceived a series of paintings based on landscapes I'd experienced while traveling through Europe. This approach is consistent with my need to have a concept or theme for any group of paintings I undertake. These paintings constitute such a unified set or group.