Although dogs have been the subjects of my paintings for twenty years, I don't consider myself to be a painter of dogs, per se. Instead, I use my observations of the dog as a means to an end. When I compose a painting I am attempting to capture narrative snippets of universal behaviors. Since dogs are human analogues, emotionally speaking, they serve my purpose well. After using them in over a hundred paintings, I haven't tired of working with their image.

Having spent fourteen years living with a dog and a writer I feel qualified to say that dogs are our emotional equivalents. The writer is better at nuance, given his language skills. But I think dogs provide us with some of the clearest physical expressions of a lot of feelings, such as curiosity, jealousy, or joy. My paintings are all about the nature of what we share with them.

I have recently returned to painting cats, and have added flowers to my repertoire. In contrast to the dogs I study for material, cats inspire narratives that are subtle. As for the flowers, they are narrative-free. They are a delight to paint and a pleasure to look at, and I don't feel that they have to be anything more.