"I search for composition that will remain living and in motion once it has been translated onto the canvas. Capturing a moment in time - via color, light and brush stroke - is my goal for each painting, whether it is the urgency of the city or the reflection of a private thought."

Philip's interest in art began in the great American museums he often visited as a young boy - the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and while attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney and the Frick From the beginning, he was drawn to the work of American Impressionists Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent, as well as their contemporaries Edward Hopper and John Sloan of the Ashcan School. The attraction to the vibrancy of city life, which is a major theme of Philip's paintings, was also ignited in him as a boy - his first painting at five years old was of the Detroit skyline, complete with pedestrians, traffic, radio towers and airplanes flying overhead.

For many years, Philip "danced around" oil painting by using his artistic talents as a musician, singer, as a graphic artist, in theater, and as a creative designer of projects for local churches and communities. In addition, he continued his self-study of great artists and their paintings while living abroad in Italy, Germany and France as well as expanding his American exposure in Atlanta, Memphis, Washington DC, Worcester, and San Diego. Finally it was time to take up the brush and bring paint to the canvas himself - a culmination of all of life's journeys and experiences. Philip and his wife, Susanna, have three children and currently reside in Columbia, S.C..