I lived in Japan as a child and have a charmed memory of the land behind our house in the village where we lived. There, our landlord kept a traditional garden; through tall, elegant bronze gates lay a dream of created nature... I would sit upon plush emerald velvet moss gazing at Koi or stand transfixed by the devotional homage to nature. Japanese art serves as my model and muse. It is my abiding internal template.
When my family returned to the states it was to California's south coast of La Jolla, "the jewel" by the sea. Swimming far, far out in the warm ocean throughout each summer was sublime and I infuse that memory into my themes of water.
Scholarships to The Museum of Modern Art's summer art classes in San Diego and the Laguna Beach School of Art provided meaningful direction when I was a child and young teenager. Upon graduating high school I accepted a full scholarship to The Academy of Art in San Francisco.
After art school I studied graphic design at the La Jolla Academy of Advertising Arts while working as an assistant designer for Shorebreak of Australia. After graduation I went on to work as a graphic designer at The San Diego Daily Transcript newspaper, Quietly ardent as an activist -before environmentalism was vogue- I later worked for Greenpeace in San Diego and then Earthfirst in Northern California.
As a painter of many years, watercolor plein air landscapes were my passion. Now I delight in photographic work; layer upon layer, day after luxurious expanse of day I create...