Painting to me is simply visual poetry. I remember learning years ago that the Romantic poet William Blake used both art forms to complement each other. I was intrigued, but believed it was important that each art form be able to stand alone. Their meeting should be a celebration for the senses; parallel roads that converge at the same goal. Not that each of my paintings has a corresponding poem. Although I enjoy both expressions, I had only a very brief success with the pen, and am ever thankful for the brush. But like the poet, it is exciting to be inspired with all I observe and experience, and hopefully with a poet’s descriptive simplicity, to translate it to canvas.

Nicholas Skaltsounis