I am not an analytical painter. Everything happens in a flow. That means I don't plan out a painting ahead, or start with an idea. Instead I build up texture by building up layers of collage papers or paints. That can be old bills, my shopping list, lost powerball tickets or junk mail. Then I start painting over it and moving the paint around, adding lines, shapes and color. Then I paste more collage paper and paint over it. I do this until something reveals itself to me. Maybe a shape reminds me of a bird, or landscape, a face or whatever. Once I see it, I try to enhance the image by taking superfluous shapes away and refining the image that I see. It is almost like looking at clouds where everybody sees something different in it. 

This process has helped me make my best paintings because I left my ego outside the studio door with my ideas or reference photos that always stifle me. These paintings are made from a flow within by just letting things happen the way they want to happen. The hard part is to get into the flow and to be open to taking risks. Because when I get off my routine path during the process, that's where I discover the gems I would not have found if I had followed the straight road ahead. 

My influences come from everything around me. I may write some words on the canvas from songs I just listened to, or news headlines that get overpainted and I only leave one word that sets the tone. I always screen everything around me and it usually ends up in a painting, sometimes visible, sometimes as a hidden message underneath.