I spend a lot of time thinking about what I will paint next. Often something happens which inspires me. Once I have found a subject matter:
I select a photo for inspiration and sketch it on my canvas with charcoal
I choose my color palette and mix my paints from scratch by adding pigment to heavy medium. I often build my paint and glazes from a range of tints and shades of an initial color I have mixed. I always want my paintings to be vivid and it is important to me to go beyond the primary colors to use the variety and range of hues in the natural world.
I fill in the base colors to establish shapes and areas of light and dark. That color will influence what you see through the next layers.
I begin to build layers of impasto glaze, my special high texture stained glass look.
After I have developed the look I want for the subject and background I emphasize the source of light using shadows and highlights.
Finally, I add my signature hard-hat stencil in the lower right corner.
I have a few videos on the site where you can see me in action.