In my figurative painting, I often work from a photograph that has a certain meaning for me, such as old family photos or those of historical or artistic figures I admire. In the paintings I try to take the figures to a place where they can be of interest to anyone viewing them, so that it is not necessary to know who the figures are in order to enjoy the painting. I find that I am pushing the paint farther toward abstraction and away from the figure as I continue to work.
