THE STORY BEHIND THE WORK

John has created art throughout his life, but over the past six years he has pursued it more seriously. His current body of work began with experiments using spray paint, unconventional tools, and different surfaces—watching how materials reacted, moved, and created shapes he could not completely control.

That curiosity eventually led him to acrylic fluid art. He became fascinated by the transformation of a simple puddle of paint into something entirely unpredictable. Even when using the same colors and techniques, no two pieces behave the same way. John may begin with an idea, but the paint often takes the work somewhere else entirely. For him, that element of surprise is part of the appeal.

When colder weather drove him out of his garage studio, John moved indoors and began working more extensively with sketching and watercolor. Watercolor offered a different challenge. Where fluid art asks him to respond to the unexpected, watercolor gives him greater control over the final image and pushes him to continually develop his skills.

His work is inspired by ordinary things that catch his attention—a change in the color of leaves, shadows moving across a ceiling, an unusual pattern, a striking color, fields, mountains, or the textures and forms found in nature. His watercolors often return to rural landscapes, farms, fields, and mountains, while his abstract work frequently suggests stone, water, wood, fire, or other organic materials.