I was born November 17, 1959 in the Salt Lake City, Utah and spent the majority of my childhood growing up in the then small community of Murray. I have done extensive travelling through out the years, living everywhere from California to Europe, but life always brings me back to Utah where I am currently living with my best freind, Diane Carter.
At a very young age (pre-school) I already had a sense of proportions and perspective. I would draw on anything that had a clean surface. Well, Okay, the surface didn't have to be clean, I can remember drawing on the white butcher paper that I would sneak out of the trash after Momma had thrown it out. I would draw on anything made of a paper product from brown grocery bags to the insides of gum wrappers. My mother recognized my love for art and encouraged me by purchasing books by all the great masters, Durer, Veronese, Caravagio, Seurat, Leonardo and of course Miche;Angelo. So it is no wonder I have chosen the human form as my forte.
As a young adult living in Europe I visited museum after museum looking at all the paintings and drawings I could. I spent a large amount of time and energy going to see the paintings I had admired as a child in the books my mother had bought. After return to the States I became interested in the art of Maxfield Parrish, Boris Vallejo, Frank Frezetta, Joseph Sheppard and most recently Keith Parkinson.
Although I have sold more paintings than I have pen and ink works I enjoy pen & ink the most. I really appreciate the effects of pointilism or stippling. Even as a child I was amazed at Seurats work and his ability to see the whole while working on the part. Pointillism is the application of your medium in small dots or brush strokes to blend and illuminate your subject. Without solid lines or washes you can create shadows by placing dots closely together or create great highlights by spacing them apart.
My work is entirely self taught. But have learned a great deal in oil painting from Boris Vallejo's book "FANTASY ART TECHNIQUES" (1985 Prentice Hall Press). And figurre drawing from Joseph Sheppard's "DRAWING THE LIVING FIGURE" (1984 Dover) and "REALISTIC FIGURE DRAWING" (1991 North Light Books). And Keith Parkinson's "KNIGHTS BRIDGE" (1996 FPG)