I was born in a small central costal California town. My mother was a civilian secretary for the military and was always working on some project like gardening or furniture refinishing - she had a very strong sense of organization and color coordination. My stepfather, after serving in the military, drew house plans and built houses in the area - he also had a firm sense of design, structure and spatial relationships. The daily routine of seeing my stepfather develop those house plans and being on site during the homes construction, including the house I grew up in, provided insight on how a concept metamorphosed into a finished product. I believe that both parents influenced my view of the world around me, its structure, and my approach to my art.
In the early 80’s, while working at a bank, I begin in earnest to pursue art as a profession by entering the Academy of Art College of San Francisco. Two years into the college program an important event occurred for me, I took a color class with teacher, Larry Robinson, who introduced me to the world of painting with acrylics. With acrylics, I found their brilliant color and quick drying aspect liberating - and forgiving.
For the remainder of my time at art school acrylics were my medium of choice. When I graduated, I had begun to develop a colorful graphic style. After graduation, work at the bank became more demanding. With added responsibilities at work, I was unable to keep up with the short deadlines of illustration work, so I made a decision to stop illustration work and instead, paint for myself.
In the late 80’s, another important event occurred for me. I went to Norway, London and the Netherlands. I visited the Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo and the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Seeing the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Jan Vermeer, Cezanne, and Edvard Munch impacted my painting style for years to come. As a result, many of my paintings from that time were of colorful landscapes with trees shaped similar to those in Edvard Munch’s' paintings.
In the early 90’s, the next big development in my artistic growth occurred. I took a 3-month break from work. First, I swapped apartments with a friend Tim, an illustrator living in SOHO Manhattan for 5 weeks. I took two painting classes and one drawing class at the Art Students League. One of the painting teachers, Harvey Dinnerstein, showed me how to make the transition from acrylic to oil painting, which continues to be my medium to this day. So foreign to my life in California, staying in Manhattan created a lasting passion for the energy and sights and smells of that city. Looking at the brownstone across the street from the window of Tim Bower's SOHO apartment, I did my first oil "Urban" painting.
Upon my return to California, I spent the next 2 months traveling around San Francisco and Monterey County painting landscapes. I developed a rhythm of starting the painting on site, taking photographs, and finishing the paintings in the studio. The first paintings were rough to create but became easier with each new painting. Much of the subject matter for my paintings since 1991 has come from the buildings in Manhattan, San Francisco, and the Monterey Bay area.
Though I have painted people, I find more pleasure in painting scenes void of them. I often find the real or implied history of buildings, interior compositions, tables, and chairs seductive and am excited by their color, angles and tangents. I strive with my paintings to convey to the viewer a sense of history and virtue, combined with a somber inviting quality.
Various artists have inspired me since that trip to Europe. The Henri Matisse and Edward Hopper retrospectives in Manhattan and the John Register retrospective in San Jose, California impacted me greatly in my painting compositions and color use. In recent years some of my urban scenes of Manhattan and San Francisco have evoked associations to works of Edward Hopper and John Register and some are a little reflective of Grant Wood.
Though my productivity decreased due to having a full-time job, I continued to paint on the weekends and replenished my mental catalog of images and experiences. Balancing my painting, working, socializing and good old fashion downtime was sometimes challenging.
I retired from the bank in March 2023 and now I am finally able to give my painting the time it deserves.
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Education
1977-8 Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma - Minor in Art
1982 Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, Calif.
1983-8 Academy of Art College, San Francisco, Calif. - BFA in Illustration
1990 Business and the Visual Artist Seminar, Fort Mason, San Francisco, Calif.
1991 Individual Exploration in Painting, U.C. Berkeley Extension, San Francisco, Calif.
1991 Art Students League, New York City, New York.
1992 Painting Intensive, U.C. Berkeley Extension, San Francisco, Calif.
1997-8 U.C Berkeley Extension, Graphic Design Program, San Francisco, Calif.
Awards and Honors
1985 Academy Of Art Spring Show, Award of Excellence, San Francisco, Calif.
1988 Marin County Fair. 2nd place, "Northern California Works" Marin, Calif.
Juried Exhibitions
1990 Southern Exposure Gallery, "Fort Mason Artists", San Francisco, Calif.
1992 City Hall Rotunda Show, "Lesbian and Gay Fine Art Exhibit", San Francisco, Calif.
Selected Exhibitions
1990 PRO ARTS Open Studio, South Prescott Artists Community, Oakland, Calif.
1990 333 Hayes Street Gallery, A One Man Show, San Francisco, Calif.
1990 Notre Dame Plaza, San Francisco, Calif.
1991 IMAGES Gallery, San Francisco, Calif.
1993 San Francisco Open Studios, San Francisco, Calif.
1995 San Francisco Open Studios, San Francisco, Calif.
1996 Sweet Inspiration, San Francisco, Calif.
1997 Sweet Inspiration, San Francisco, Calif.
1999 Sweet Inspiration, San Francisco, Calif.
1999 San Francisco Open Studios, San Francisco, Calif.
1999 Edward Montgomery Fine Art Gallery, Carmel, Calif.
2000 Sweet Inspiration, San Francisco, Calif.
2000 Zonal, San Francisco, Calif.
2001 San Francisco Open Studios, San Francisco, Calif.
2001 Zonal, San Francisco, Calif.
2002 Zonal, San Francisco, Calif.
Periodicals
Coast Weekly, Jan 23-29, 1992, pg. 10, Monterey, Calif.
Frontiers Magazine, June 1996, pg. 22, San Francisco, Calif.
Friant & Associates, Promotion Flyer, 1998, San Francisco, Calif
Pottery Barn, Summer Catalog, 1998
Frontiers Magazine, June 2001, pg. 15, San Francisco, Calif.