The Master Study: A Lineage of Light

Early in my career, a mentor gave me a piece of advice that redefined my relationship with paint: "Never compare yourself to your peers. Compare yourself to a Master."

This directive transformed my practice from a pursuit of "good" into a lifelong study of "greatness." I was taught that to truly find one's voice, one must first apprentice themselves to the Masters who came before. For me, that apprenticeship has focused on two primary mentors: Claude Monet and Georges Seurat.

The Palette of Monet: Restraint and Color

In my work, I utilize the foundational palette of Claude Monet—specifically his reliance on Viridian and Ultramarine Blue. Monet is my teacher in the art of restraint. He reminds me that a painting is a living breathing thing, and the greatest challenge is knowing when to stop—to not "go too far" into the work that you stifle its spirit. From him, I learned that color is not just a descriptor, but the very light itself. My New England waters are built on his lessons of atmospheric harmony.

The Discipline of Seurat: Shape and Precision

While Monet teaches me the soul of the landscape, Georges Seurat provides the architecture. Seurat set the standard for the "perfect dot," and he continues to guide me in how to deconstruct a complex landscape into deliberate, structural shapes. Through Seurat, I learned that a painting is a mathematical mosaic; by breaking the world into thousands of individual points, I can achieve a shimmering luminosity—an optical mixing—that traditional blending can never reach.

A Modern Practice

Today, my work is the intersection of these two masters. Using a #0 bright brush on cradled hardboard, I apply the color theories of Monet with the structural precision of Seurat. Each piece is a bridge between the 19th-century masters and the sovereign clarity of my current life.

By comparing my marks not to the world around me, but to the standards set by these icons, I ensure that every "dot of passion" is placed with intention, discipline, and a deep respect for the history of fine art.