With the perspective afforded as my practice of painting moves into its fifth decade, I have occasion to reflect on the common spirit that might be running through the work, underlying the different approaches and subject matter that have emerged over the years. What I perceive most clearly in the work that is most successful, is a sense of presence or aliveness, and a "rightness" of form, scale and color. Somehow through luck, hard work or some combination of the two, I've been able to find and draw these qualities out of the paint. In my landscapes, that can be achieved through a certain evocation of space and light. In the still lifes, by a concentration on composition and scale and a reduction to essentials, and now in the portraits, engaging similar means in the service of conjuring a human presence. Through it all I've learned to accept and enjoy the impossibility of having more than a momentary resting place before moving on to another attempt. I do appreciate more and more the way a painting, its spirit arising out of such humble materials, continues to rest silently on the wall, contemplating both itself and the viewer amidst the hurried buzz of our contemporary lives, offering a refuge and occasion for those who desire a deeper and more satisfying engagement of our attention.