Perhaps my favorite subjects to paint, I find the forms, textures, personalities, and colors of animals to be the most exciting of all my work. I never tire of observing the folds, feathers, wisps, and wires of our wild and fowl friends. While my early childhood ambition was to become a veterinarian, I quickly found the best outlet for my love of animals was through my artistic expression with vibrant color and lifelike detail. Continuing with the advantageous use of screen observation in my painting process, I am awed and amazed at our ability to digitally photograph and zoom-in to view the magnificence of an animal that we may not often be allowed to see naturally from a distance due to the limited nature of our vision and the instincts of a wild animal. I apply our access to technology as a tool to observe and enhance the color, lines, and form into a composition that demands the animal be admired and seen for both their natural beauty, and also suggest exciting areas of unnatural color. An animal’s various overlapping coverings, patterns and textures are incredibly intricate and interesting, and I want viewers to sense my appreciation for wildlife, the joyfulness I find in the process of observing and replicating them, and my excitement to provide an opportunity to spark the senses of tangibility and question the difference in realism and expression.