"Unlike Norman Rockwell, a true hero of American imagists and illustrators, I do not use models. My characters are whimsical folks who expand from my imagination and begin their ‘life’ as a brief cartoon sketch. Some of them eventually become familiar likenesses to those I've known over the years and may bring about a memory of my past. Possibly I glimpsed them briefly in a 'former life', a painting, a dream, a photograph or a book. However, they all begin as individuals that I have yet to meet. Their expressions and personalities develop as I go along. Once they introduce themselves, they become my new ‘old friends’."