I am an artist who has lived in many different places. This has given me a valuable perspective on the unique features of different natural environments and the creatures that inhabit them. Having moved from Sonoma County to Southern California several years ago, I have embraced the rich and stunning beauty of Santa Barbara.
My background is in Sculpture, experimental Film, architecture and have spent the last ten years focused on oil painting. I have shown in the San Francisco “Invisible Cities,” with The Sonoma 5 artists in the Fall of 2024; Santa Barbara CAW (Community Arts Workshop) individual show in the Summer 2024; OCA (Occidental Center for the Arts) “Owls” show with The Sonoma 5 artists in the Fall of 2023; SAC (Sacramento Center for the Arts) Honorable Mention in 2022. My paintings have been featured at Freestone Artisan gallery space from 2017-2023.
To put my work in historical perspective, important artistic influences include American realist painter Edward Hopper, English romantic painter J.M.W.Turner and American landscape painter George Inness. Hopper for his immovability and deep understanding of empty spaces both physical and psychological. Turner for his monumental washes of weather and ability to describe nature’s violence and beauty. Inness for his rich luscious landscapes, his hints at detail through scumbled color fields.
I have been painting animals and shamelessly anthropomorphize them without being cute. They evoke a deep resonance for me and have since childhood. Subject matters have been roosters, pigs, cows, jack rabbits, dogs, bears, and Santa Barbara herons coming home to roost for the night. They span the full range of emotions that are there that make me happy from a preening 1,200 pound cow to an angry white rooster that would clearly pick a fight with a clod of dirt. It is important to my creative process that I laugh and an animal I paint has a particular twist that acknowledges their light.
I hope through my paintings to bring pleasure to their new homes, and that they continue to do so. It’s hard to put a price on something that brings you pleasure. Beyond that is my understanding of value, which I see as the story or provenance of a piece which speaks to the continuity of an audience. I have pieces of art in my home each of which represents my association with a person I love or had loved and for that they are priceless.
