I see the connection between my paintings and the ideas of Carl Jung in this way. I try when painting to combine my conscious and unconscious responses to the subject. Creativity comes from the unconscious, but the creative impulse is best served artistically when it is consciously guided. Jung demonstrated that there is a collective unconscious common to us all. It plays an enormous role in our lives and is the well-spring of consciousness. When our consciousness and the collective unconscious act in harmony we can sometimes surprise ourselves with what comes out.

I paint mainly the figure. It is something concrete to which to respond and something I find infinitely variable. I hope the encounter with the figure, and later with the evolving painting, will activate unconscious processes that participate in the production of the work. By tempering these processes through conscious control, I aim for a unified work that achieves freedom in execution while honoring rules of color and composition and maintaining a recognizable relationship to the figure. Without constraints imposed by consciousness there is chaos. Without the creative power of the unconscious there is sterility.