As a musician, I almost always paint to music. Whether it’s Bill Evans, Hermanos Gutierrez, or Nine Inch Nails, the soundtrack mirrors my mood and shapes my creative process. My work emerges from an improvisational way of seeing. I rarely approach the canvas with a plan or predetermined imagery, preferring to begin with a blank mind and let the colors that speak to me guide the painting.

As a bass player, this process is deeply familiar to me from my musical upbringing in jazz to my current performances rooted in the improvisational traditions surrounding the Grateful Dead, where structure and shape emerge through conversation and responsiveness rather than rigid design.  I feel most free in this approach, and painting has always been a place I return to again and again to experience that freedom.

Color is central to my practice.  Like individual notes in an improvisation, each small, unblended brushstroke retains its own identity while contributing to something larger than itself. I am fascinated—perhaps even obsessed—with preserving the integrity of every hue, allowing each mark to maintain its own voice. As these vibrant strokes interact through proximity and contrast, they come alive, morphing into forms that pulse with movement, energy, and emotion.  Each painting is an invitation to experience emotion before explanation.