I've always had the need for all kinds of art in my life, to feel well and fully alive. Without it, I feel pent up and unsatisfied. In the civilized world we constantly have to compromise, repress and adapt our nature. There is such joy in being released from these restraints. So in this way art has been like a home to me: a place to relax and be myself.

On the most basic level, my desire to paint comes from a sense of wonder about the world and an impulse to feel out, or reflect, its existence. The physical act of putting paint on the canvas, of making a mark, is a kind of validation. It fulfills some primal urge.

It interests me that a painting can contain various perspectives, which can be contradictory, harmonious and oblivious to one another. In a painting, time is slowed down, and we can notice the complex way things are in relation.

Paint is a great medium for familiar subjects. Things often taken for granted can be much more fully appreciated in paint.

One of my favorite painters is Pierre Bonnard, who worked at the same time and in a similar style as the Impressionist. At first sight many of his works could be dismissed as pretty or even decorative. But over time the layers of content reveal themselves. In his work, the sublime and the mundane are almost indistinguishable, yet the presence of both is felt. There is a sense of how seemingly opposing experiences--joy and sadness, holding and surrendering—always seem to exist together.

My recent paintings are about my daughter and my changed world with her in it. To be connected to and responsible for such a tiny creature made things both raw and precious. The cycles of seasons were on my mind, as was survival, and the laws of nature. Every scene was both animalistic and tender.