Drawing from a sure foundation is my premise for drafting "all those lines" that one sees if they are looking closely into one of my paintings.  My pattern is a sophisticated version of the Golden Mean, Golden Section, Fibonacci Sequence, Divine Proportion, or as I call it, a Divine Design.  It has it's origins in the Heavens; star arrangements seen by many cultures then translated into what we know as the common star shape.  There are relationships in this geometric shape that have unique properties, so much so these cultures over the centuries have designated them divine.  These sacred dimensions are referenced in the Talmud and Bible.  The design of the Ark of the Covenant and similarly the design of Noah's ark have these sacred relationships in them. 

     Master painters like Giotto, Degas, Manet, Matisse, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Michelangelo and Rembrandt have used these same relationship properties in their compositional foundations-consciously and subconsciously.  For instance, it has been recently discovered through the work of Canadian scientists that Leonardo Da Vinci had drawn proportione divina geometric lines underneath the Mona Lisa painting--- the true Da Vinci Code.  Picasso was bold enough to bring this same order of lines to the surface to create Cubism.  The afore mentioned artists have used this compositional order in their paintings, and so shall I.

     I paint flowers because they are good models. As I paint from life, orchids hold their pose and last for weeks. I do paint other subjects using the same drawing pattern, such as landscapes, but it is more of a challenge to find these relationships as the elements (water) move and change so rapidly.  Nature has these divine properties in it.  Like Cezanne and Van Gogh, I look for this order in flowers in relationship to their environment because they have a dynamic design.  My work has been described as conceptionally simple; my hope is that the work is perceived as strong on craft, color and composition utilizing the pattern with its inherent relationships that point to an Intelligent Designer.

     I think of this drafting like a pianist playing scales before performing or like an athlete doing movement/warm-up's before a competition.  This foundation gives me a girding to which I can "let go" as I look; a formula for freedom.  From this, I can get into that "zone" in which a piece of art blossoms.