About the Artist

"I lived and worked as an artist long before I knew I was one."

I am an artist now living in Grass Valley, California. I have been studying and pursuing art  for most my life. My art works include Hawaii and California landscapes, creatures of the land and sea, and still life, in either oil or acrylic mediums. 

On August 8th 2023 my art studio in Lahaina, Maui, was destroyed by the devastating fire that consumed most of Lahaina Town. Everything in it, which included not only over 900 paintings and thousands of dollars of art supplies, but also the 50 year history of my art career and all my family photos. The fire has left a huge whole in my heart. Moving to Grass Valley to be closer to family, will help to repair it.  

                       Watch this Youtube Video 

I have decided to leave all my paintings that were destroyed in the fire up on my website as a tribute to Lahaina. The originals are gone but prints are available. Each painting has a special link to purchase the print.

I'm slowly rebuilding my inventory one painting at time. These works are in the collection called "New Works After The Fire." I don't know where my art journey will lead me. I do know I'll be exploring new subjects and styles as I navigate this new town of mine.

If you have made it this far in reading my "About Me", you might as well continue. Below is some of my history as an artist. 

I have a long history in the art world, I literally grew up in it. My parents opened a gallery, Lakeside Gallery, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe from the mid 70s through 2008. I spent a good deal of my time there. The gallery offered so much more than just beautiful paintings. We had an art supply store, frame shop and classroom. I spent many years working at the gallery as a framer, teacher, gallery curator and all around general manager. I lived and worked as an artist long before I knew I was one. 

In 2002 I moved to Chico California, got a job at a frame shop and started teaching oil painting once a week. In 2008 I opened my art school Art E Studio. The housing market had just crashed and the economy was heading into the rescission. It was a huge risk but one that paid off handsomely. My once a week classes turned into 12 weekly classes in just a few short years.

In 2012 my sweetheart Charlie and I moved to Maui. It was a life long dream for both of us to live in the Hawaiian Islands. Charlie had a business opportunity to purchase a printing company with his cousin in Lahaina. We both packed up our businesses and shipped them over. I gave myself a year to get established into my new community. Part of that goal was to get into one of the galleries in Lahaina. I met that goal within the first month of moving there. Lucky for me Village Gallery happened to be the oldest operating gallery on the island. My other goal was to reopened Art E Studio and promote it. I got my fist student with in 6 months.

I became involved with Lahaina Arts Association three months after arriving in Maui. Lahaina Arts Association was a 501c3 non profit organization that focused on art education for the children of Maui county. The county includes the islands Lana'i and Moloka'i. We served about 900 kids with 13 free weekly art classes and gave out 6 collage scholarships a year. I served as Vice President from 2013 to 2014, and President from 2014 to 2017.

In 2013 the Editor of Walter Foster Publishing contacted me about doing a book on acrylic painting. The book features six artists giving step-by-step instructions designed to help master the art of painting in acrylic. The book "The Art of Painting in Acrylic" has been out since August 2014. Writing the book and working with such a great publishing company was a great experience. Walter Foster Publishing has been around since 1922. I first became familiar with them in the 70s through my parent's gallery. There was a prominent wall in the art supply room dedicated to Walter Foster "step-by-step" books. I loved looking through them and learning new techniques. I began a collection of my favorites and would often buy older out of print books from yard sales and estate sales. Being approached by them and asked to write this book was a huge honor.  If you are interested in purchasing my book "The Art Of Painting In Acrylic"  contact me for a signed copy. 

Thank you for reading about my art journey.