My antecedents were mostly designers and professional artists. As a result, I was told, in no uncertain terms, how difficult creative work is.
In 1970 I was apprenticed at Disney’s R&D facility–WED Enterprises while I attended Art Center College of Design (ACCD). After a stint as a Disney Designer, I started working independently and teaching (also at ACCD) in 1977. In 2000, I decided to dedicate all of my time and effort to Painting and teaching.
I am currently refining my body of work by working with Wayne Thiebaud, who has provided considerable critical feedback since 2014. Wayne has been a very positive influence, with his emphasis on critical study and "...a kind of long looking..." a phrase of his which I love and a philosophical approach that has been an integral part of my new work.
Other Influences include Gustave Courbet, George Inness Georgio Morandi and more recently Richard Diebenkorn.
My love of art history and contemporary painting, including abstract expressionism and the later works of artists such as Monet, Van Gogh, Sargent and Inness, encourages me and keeps the door open to even more abstracted works, paintings that interpret the forms found in nature that have always intrigued me.