The summer after my sophomore year of college, while working on a schooner in Maine, I met a retired fisherman who knew a bartender with a lot of fishing connections. Alas, at that time, there was a general fishing strike in the harbor with no end in sight. So, much of the rest of that summer was spent working in a toy factory in Troy, N.Y. That’s as close as I ever got to being an actual fisherman…and it’s not nearly as interesting a story to tell my grandkids. As a freelance photographer, between paying jobs, I often contrived to get myself out on fishing boats. Even with my limited but valuable experience on and around fishing boats, the answer to the question I’m most frequently asked is, no, I don’t fish. Having been a photographer for almost three decades, it’s a joy to be free of the bonds of objective reality. While photographs may occasionally trigger an idea, I never paint from them. My paintings are completely made-up. They are meant to be iconic rather than descriptive, creating a feeling, an emotional response, with somewhat generic symbols. My places and things have analogs in reality, but specifically, they exist only in my mind and on the canvas. They are irreverent fantasies made up of a love of boats and the seacoast, respect and admiration for people who wrest a living from saltwater, and maybe just a little bit of envy or disappointment of never having been one of them. I feel most successful when people tell me that my work makes them smile and when working fishermen enjoy my work. I hope you enjoy it as well.