For as long as I can remember, I have been a fascinated spectator of human behavior – the quintessential people watcher. I naturally seek the unique character in everyone I encounter. Often, as I observe someone in his or her everyday environment, I am rewarded with a moment when a gesture or expression combine with the play of light and shadow. A contemplative smile, hands cradling a book or carefully tying a shoe, a shadow cast by a pair of wire-rimmed glasses – and there occurs a pivotal instant when a story appears.

My paintings are an attempt to compose and thoughtfully record the nuances that transfixed these moments, these stories, in my mind.

Matisse expresses the notion superbly:
“I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.”

Ted Nuttall