A LITTLE ABOUT MY BACKGROUND

Born in 1945, I spent the first few years of my life in the woodsy area of Northern Pennsylvania. When I was nine we moved to a suburb of Pittsburgh where I was raised in a typical steel town on the Allegheny river among the rolling green hills of Western PA. In both places, I spent as much time outdoors as I could roaming the hills and woodlands.

As long as I can remember I have been interested in drawing and always knew I would be involved in the creative world in some manner. My talent for art was recognized early on, and in high school I was selected to attend classes at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh for those regional art students deemed to have some promise in the arts. I continued my pursuit of art in college by going on to graduate with a degree in Advertising Design from the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture and Art.

After serving my country in Vietnam, I moved to Northern California and began a career in graphic design in which I am still engaged. I began taking classes from Ralph Ledesma and other San Francisco Bay Area watercolor artists, as I worked to improve my skill in watercolor painting.

Lately I have taken a renewed interest in oil painting and so I am currently working in both mediums. In my oil painting I find my inspiration in the works of the early California impressionists who uniquely captured the vitality and beauty of this area.

Although I have a degree in design, I consider myself to be mainly self-taught as a painter. My works have been exhibited in numerous shows and appear in many private homes and personal collections.

With my painting I try to capture the quiet beauty and serene elegance of the surrounding landscape. Subtle color and a unique sense of atmosphere are things I try to capture as I feel they best reflect the special beauty of the world around us.