Portfolio of Works

One of the highlights of my local landscape is the vineyards and wineries of the nearby wine country.

Growing up in Redondo Beach, California, sailing to Catalina Island, and spending summers at the beach inspired my artistic vision.

I have always had an abundance of curiosity and a passion for history.  My art journey has led me to create paintings with a strong back story.  I think of my paintings as visual storytelling and I want my viewers to engage with me in exploring the stories I have uncovered. The past isn't dead and gone.  We relive it every day in some way.  The more we connect with the past, the more we can learn about ourselves and our current lives.

Some of us are able to travel to other countries in person, but all of us are able to learn about other cultures through art, literature, cultural exchanges and research.  As human beings we have an innate curiosity about other cultures and a need to look through a different lens.

The Temecula Historic District, known to locals as Old Town, is an eclectic mixture of old and new. Historic building from Temecula's earliest days share space with new restaurants, businesses, a community theater, and city hall. The area is a tourist destination and hosts a vibrant night life, expecially on weekends.

Where we live defines us in many ways.  The sights we see often  become familiar and comforting.  Our surroundings teach us, challenge us, soothe us and inspire us.  We are often drawn to people who appreciate the same things we do.  Here are some of the landmarks that inspire me.

Painting outdoors on location is so instructive.  You need to self edit all of the visual information that you see in order to capture what is essential and awe inspiring to you.  You need to get it down in a limited time frame and often with a limited palette before the light changes and nature moves on.  The lessons you learn when plein air painting often help your studio work as well.  No photograph captures the whole story.  It can help with the drawing, but falls short with reflective light and half tones.

Still life paintings can be abstract and realistic at the same time.  They can be arranged or artlessly unarranged.  The artist's job is to manipulate scale, value, color harmony, and edges to create a whole that is more than the sum of the parts. 

People are endlessly fascinating and tell their story through posture, body language and facial expressions.

Sometimes good things come in small packages.  Small paintings give me a chance to focus on one idea, leaving out extraneous detail.  Often I do a small painting as a thumbnail before doing a larger one on the same theme.