I was born and raised in western Michigan. As a young person, I loved to draw, and although I did not end up studying studio art formally, the time spent in art class and drawing and painting on my own was the beginning of my lifelong interest in art. The college years brought me to the east coast, where I studied art history and availed myself of the museum and gallery scene in New York City. Although fascinated with the historical aspects of painting, part of me always wanted to be able to go back to my room, and take a crack at it myself. While working in New York, the opportunities presented themselves, and I enrolled in classes at the New School and the Art Students League.
Watercolor had been my medium of choice since high school. My parents had gotten me oil paints when I was ten years old, but with five younger siblings, there was not a safe place to dry an oil painting, and I soon realized that a medium that could be put away after it had been worked on was far more practical. My mother enrolled me in a watercolor class with a local artist when I was fourteen, and although the results were embarrassing at best, some of the things I learned in that class have stayed with me to this day.
After many workshops with nationally renowned watercolorists like Frank Webb, Diane Faxon, and Charles Read, I started entering local shows and have earned first place watercolor awards from the Old Greenwich Art Association, the Greenwich Art Association and the Rowayton Art Association. In addition, I have had one-man shows at schools, banks and more recently at galleries in Old Greenwich and Nassau. My work hangs in collections across the country, and in the Bahamas; and was included in a recently published book, LOVE AND RESPONSIBILITY, THE DAWN DAVIES COLLECTION, which is a composite of her collection of Bahamian artists.
It is my good fortune to have lived in and traveled to inspirational places. As a child, I was taken to boat yards with my father while he sanded and varnished his racing boat, and to this day, I am inspired by seascapes, marinas and ports. The Michigan Coastline that I grew up with is not as dramatic as those in the Bahamas or on the East Coast, and harder to capture, but has proven a good discipline. The Michigan skies are vast and the water is at times forbidding, but it is possesses a quiet beauty and one that speaks to me.
The Bahamas, where we have a house, presents other challenges. The color of the water is such that it almost looks unbelievable if you are fortunate enough to mix the right color. The skies there are almost touchable, and inspiration abounds. Although not a still life painter, it is hard for me to pass a Kalik beer without wanting to capture it’s peculiar yellow color against the bright blue label.
International travel, mostly to Italy, has also served as a source of great inspiration. Here I have become interested in the ancient architecture, and occasionally even find myself in a place where the architecture meets the sea and doubles the inspiration.
I hope that the subjects I try to record will resonate with you, as they have with me.
Watercolor had been my medium of choice since high school. My parents had gotten me oil paints when I was ten years old, but with five younger siblings, there was not a safe place to dry an oil painting, and I soon realized that a medium that could be put away after it had been worked on was far more practical. My mother enrolled me in a watercolor class with a local artist when I was fourteen, and although the results were embarrassing at best, some of the things I learned in that class have stayed with me to this day.
After many workshops with nationally renowned watercolorists like Frank Webb, Diane Faxon, and Charles Read, I started entering local shows and have earned first place watercolor awards from the Old Greenwich Art Association, the Greenwich Art Association and the Rowayton Art Association. In addition, I have had one-man shows at schools, banks and more recently at galleries in Old Greenwich and Nassau. My work hangs in collections across the country, and in the Bahamas; and was included in a recently published book, LOVE AND RESPONSIBILITY, THE DAWN DAVIES COLLECTION, which is a composite of her collection of Bahamian artists.
It is my good fortune to have lived in and traveled to inspirational places. As a child, I was taken to boat yards with my father while he sanded and varnished his racing boat, and to this day, I am inspired by seascapes, marinas and ports. The Michigan Coastline that I grew up with is not as dramatic as those in the Bahamas or on the East Coast, and harder to capture, but has proven a good discipline. The Michigan skies are vast and the water is at times forbidding, but it is possesses a quiet beauty and one that speaks to me.
The Bahamas, where we have a house, presents other challenges. The color of the water is such that it almost looks unbelievable if you are fortunate enough to mix the right color. The skies there are almost touchable, and inspiration abounds. Although not a still life painter, it is hard for me to pass a Kalik beer without wanting to capture it’s peculiar yellow color against the bright blue label.
International travel, mostly to Italy, has also served as a source of great inspiration. Here I have become interested in the ancient architecture, and occasionally even find myself in a place where the architecture meets the sea and doubles the inspiration.
I hope that the subjects I try to record will resonate with you, as they have with me.