How It All Began

I always enjoyed drawing and my first venture into painting took place in 1983. I started out using a watercolor set that my father, a draftsman who was excellent with pen and ink, had only used a few times. That got me started but I wasn't too successful as a watercolor painter. Pictures took forever to complete and after a few years I switched over to acrylics which were still water based but had a thicker consistency and I slowly started to improve. I sold my first painting in 1988 of a loon family for $350 to another artist. Although it's not shown on the site I've sold that same painting 3 times over the years so it was pretty popular. At the time I had a very tedious style of just painting a lot of detail but I don't think I really captured the spirit of the moment.

Switching to Oils

Around the beginning of 1994 I decided to give oil paints a try and it took me a little while to get used to them but I've found this to now be my favorite medium. The oils stay wet longer allowing for easier blending allowing me to work quickly and their thickness allows me to work with tools such as a painting knife which was used in the Canyonlands and Snake River Overlook scenes shown on the site. The painting knife is great for rocks, mountains and even for tree trunks. Many of these scenes have been inspired by my trips to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National parks which I visited from 1998 - 2001 for painting workshops that were held there and I've been back on my own a couple more times since then. A lot of my work from the last few years has been inspired by those western trips but I've also painted pet portraits and did my first personal portrait last year. I'm currently a member of the Ridgefield Guild of Artists and have particpated in their spring and summer outdoor shows. My work received some press coverage in August of 2003 in the Danbury News Times and a photo of my aspens painting was featured in the Ridgefield Press.