I've always been drawn to works of art on a small scale because of the delicacy and precision of the craftsmanship, and I try to make paintings that invite close scrutiny and forge an intimate connection. I often juxtapose small areas of brightly-lit detail with larger passages of shadow and ambiguity. Whether the image is a portrait, a street scene or a landscape, I'm interested in the effect of light - or its absence - on a surface, and much of my inspiration comes from Dutch landscape artists as well as the films of the 1940's, with their mastery of formal abstraction and mood.