On the first day of one of my first life-drawing classes ever, my teacher, watching me laboriously outline the model on my large newsprint pad, said, simply, “The whole thing; the whole thing.” For eight straight classes, that was the only advice he gave to me. I didn’t know what he meant, but I was determined to find out. That was about 35 years ago. Since then, the phrase “the whole thing” has become part of my language, central to how I view my work and myself. It means painting the people and situations that mean the most, that affect me the most, that trouble me the most. Painting from my core, with as much emotional clarity as possible. My main interest is in figures and portraits, but I also paint abstracts and still life. I work mainly with oils, pastels, charcoal and pencil. I also show photographs.