I am a self-taught artist and have been painting for more than 30 years. I grew up in logging camps and this environment constantly exposed me to nature. This kindled my interest in landscapes, animals, florals and still life. I began by drawing on anything I could find and when finances allowed, I moved on to cheap watercolors and then finally to oil, acrylics and gouache.

One of my biggest influences in art came in the 80s when I was introduced to the teachings of Betty Edwards with the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. The book taught me how to look at subjects for a different perspective and enabled me to improve my drawing and painting abilities.

My style is realism and impressionism. I paint mainly in oils and paint subjects that interest and excite me and also subjects that the viewer can relate to, whether it be a landscape, floral arrangement, still life or portrait.

My artistic journey has led me from oils to pastels to acrylics to watercolor and back to oils again. In addition, I have painted portraits, still life, landscapes and now I am fascinated by abstract. Currently my personal artistic expression is freed from all adherence to form, allowing me to totally engage with my inner self and grant my creativity permission to flow into my work.

Painting abstracts in oil with cold wax medium is a great revelation to me as it seemed to open me up to possibilities that were not there before. The effects and textures possible are endless. The mystery of this mixture of oil paint with cold wax medium is that it starts out soft and buttery and dries to a smooth satin sheen, leaving the viewer with few clues to how effects were achieved.