My interest in art was sparked at the age of 11 at the Clark AFB Hobby shop in the Philippines, however because we moved shortly after it wasn't until I was in high school before I was able to dabble in art again. I won a couple of awards in high school and went on to enroll in the art program at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. After about 3 years I became disillusioned with the art program so changed my major to Medical Technology. I have worked in both human and veterinary labs performing microbiology for 33 years until 2020 when I retired.
I began watching YouTube videos in 2018 in order to get back into learning art. I started building back my skills in painting during the summer of 2020 using acrylics but later switched to oils. While I have been able to improve well enough that I have had a couple of friends commission paintings from me, I feel I still have a lot to learn in both technique and the business side of art.
I primarily paint landscapes, however, I also love still life. I want people who view my landscapes to feel that sense of calm and well-being that nature provides. Sometimes its that shimmer of light on water or that golden evening light raking across the landscape that excites me. For my still life paintings, I love painting texture and the dance of light and shadow across surfaces and I hope viewers love that as well.
Artists that have inspired me are Richard Schmid, David Leffel, Sherrie McGraw, John Singer Sargent, Qiang Huang, Scott Christensen, and many others.