The Process

Every painting begins with a question: How will this piece transfer light to the viewer in a special way?

Before I think about color, tools, technique, or even the many steps required to complete a painting, I think about light. I imagine how it will enter the surface, how I can bend and redirect it, and how the painting might change as the viewer moves through the room. That pursuit has continually pushed my work forward. I am not simply creating an image on metal; I am building a surface designed to interact with its surroundings and with the person standing before it. In that sense, I paint with light. It is at the heart of every painting I create and the idea that guides every decision that follows.

Every piece begins with a sheet of marine-grade aluminum, chosen for its strength, stability, and ability to interact brilliantly with light. Before any artwork begins, the raw aluminum is cut and fabricated in the studio. A structural frame is built onto the back of each piece, giving the finished work rigidity while allowing it to stand away from the wall. This creates a subtle floating effect—the artwork becomes an object in the room rather than simply an image hanging on a surface.

The heart of my work begins with the bare metal.

Before a drop of color is applied, the aluminum is carefully cleaned and prepared and then worked through an extensive process of grinding, burnishing, polishing, and abrasion. Using power tools, specialized abrasives, and techniques developed over years of experimentation, I create thousands of controlled marks within the surface of the aluminum.

These marks are not simply texture.

Each one changes the way light travels across the metal and returns to the viewer.

By changing the direction, depth, pattern, and character of the grinding, I can make light appear to move through the artwork. Some areas flare brightly as you pass them; others become deep and subdued. Patterns can emerge, disappear, and reappear depending upon the viewer's position and the changing light within the room.

This manipulation of reflected light is the foundation of everything I do. In many ways, the grinding is the painting before the paint ever begins.

Once the metalwork is complete, color is introduced through multiple layers of translucent candy paints, many derived from high-quality automotive finishing systems.

Unlike conventional opaque paint, these transparent colors allow light to penetrate the painted surface, interact with the ground aluminum beneath it, and reflect back through the color toward the viewer.

Layer after layer is applied to gradually develop depth, saturation, atmosphere, and contrast while preserving the movement created within the metal.

The result is a surface that can change dramatically throughout the day. Natural sunlight, interior lighting, and even the movement of the viewer can reveal different colors, patterns, and dimensions within the same painting.

Selected works are further embellished with gold leaf, introducing another reflective material with its own relationship to light. Against the ground aluminum and translucent color, the gold can shift from a subtle warmth to an intense brilliance depending upon how it is illuminated.

Every material is chosen for a reason: to contribute another layer to the interaction between metal, color, light, and movement.

After the artwork is complete, the entire surface is sealed beneath a professional-grade automotive clear-coat system. Multiple layers create depth and brilliance while protecting the delicate metalwork, translucent pigments, and gold leaf beneath.

The finished surface has the richness and refinement of a high-end automotive finish, but its purpose goes far beyond protection. The clear coat becomes the final optical layer of the painting, enhancing the depth of the color and the reflective qualities of the aluminum below.

The finished work is difficult to fully capture in a photograph because it was never intended to be experienced from a single viewpoint.

It is art that responds to its environment.

As the viewer moves, the light moves.

And as the light moves, the painting changes.