"OH MY!!! First off, the painting is a wonderful emotional piece for us. It gives us a serene, peaceful feeling. The colors have a wonderful intensity and texture. It's so interesting to study it closely and see all the different subtle colors in the sky, in the trees... Nicely done! We will enjoy looking at this peaceful landscape that reminds us of home for a long time to come."
- A quote from a collector who recently commissioned a painting.
- A quote from a collector who recently commissioned a painting.
My work can always be seen at the Sebastopol Gallery, which I co-founded in 2007. We are open daily from 10 to 5 at 150 North Main Street in downtown Sebastopol. 707.829.7200.
I participate in two annual studio tours:
Art at the Source in June and Art Trails in October.
My work is exhibited in many other art venues and forums throughout the year, including:
Corrick's at 637 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA, 707.546.2424
Made Local Marketplace at 2421 Magowan Drive in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa, CA, 707.583.7667
"My job as an artist is to paint with passion and sensitivity, to bring all the experience and skill that I can muster to try to create works of lasting quality. I hope the viewer will resonate with the work, perhaps even finding solace and healing. We are not on this earth for very long, so we might as well try to be of use. And we really ought to enjoy ourselves, don't you think?"
To order my prints, visit my Etsy, shop. Custom orders welcome, including on stretched canvas. If you have any questions, send me a note here: Email
Private studio visits can be scheduled by appointment.
Please let me know if a special commissioned painting would interest you. It's an exciting, collaborative process. My many commission clients have been highly satisfied. Thank you!
I participate in two annual studio tours:
Art at the Source in June and Art Trails in October.
My work is exhibited in many other art venues and forums throughout the year, including:
Corrick's at 637 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA, 707.546.2424
Made Local Marketplace at 2421 Magowan Drive in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa, CA, 707.583.7667
"My job as an artist is to paint with passion and sensitivity, to bring all the experience and skill that I can muster to try to create works of lasting quality. I hope the viewer will resonate with the work, perhaps even finding solace and healing. We are not on this earth for very long, so we might as well try to be of use. And we really ought to enjoy ourselves, don't you think?"
To order my prints, visit my Etsy, shop. Custom orders welcome, including on stretched canvas. If you have any questions, send me a note here: Email
Private studio visits can be scheduled by appointment.
Please let me know if a special commissioned painting would interest you. It's an exciting, collaborative process. My many commission clients have been highly satisfied. Thank you!
Artist Statement
I sometimes refer to my work as “high level doodling”. When I paint, there is no destination or agenda. Much like dancing, it’s playful and meandering, improvisational. I try not to get too attached to a plan, or stuck in fear. I remain flexible and prepared to reconsider my objectives for the work. And work may not be the right word. I know what work is, having been a builder for many years, doing pretty heavy-duty work. When I shifted my career over 20 years ago, I committed to a radically different mindset. Doing art work is much more like play, which is ultimately my way of celebrating freedom.
Art making is rooted in my earliest years. It allowed me to shut out a chaotic family and while away the hours drawing things around me: the living room furniture, the goldfish, the cat, the willow tree out back. I loved the precision and clarity of mechanical drawings. I colored in endless stacks of coloring books. In a way this is still what I do. The art supplies are better now (sorry, Crayola), but subjectively, it’s not so different.
At the easel I often think in musical terms. I set up a rhythm and build color harmonies. I look at a row of trees and seek to carve an intriguing melodic line. I make a conscious effort to tie things together (think: legato for the musicians out there). I want the eye to bounce from place to place, enjoy the repeated motifs, see the interplay of forces, almost hear the reverberations. I try to resolve all conflicts, to ease all tensions, so the elements within the piece can carry on a balanced and meaningful conversation - a tight jazz ensemble. Some passages are quiet, tender, spacious; others may be loud, crowded, assertive. The goal is to develop a unity that springs out of all that variation, to have a work of art that feels effortless, inevitable and natural. Like a Bach partita!
One daunting challenge for a landscape painter is that the exquisite and evanescent beauty of the Earth is too subtle and changeable to be captured in any painting. However, layers of built-up color on the painted surface can effectively convey a sense of depth, complexity and history. With imagination, both from the artist and the viewer, it is possible to imply vastness within the confines of a tiny frame.
The sense of displacement and disorientation people often carry is at the core of many of our society’s ills. It may be due in part to an ingrained misapprehension that we are somehow cut off and separate from Nature and community. On the other hand, people sometimes tell me that my landscapes feel very familiar, that suddenly they are right there, could enter the painting and live in that world of peace and calm.
So maybe my work is in part an attempt to address our longing to connect and to remind mainly myself what a precious thing it is to be alive. I want people to delight in the wonder and mystery of being a sentient human, to pay attention to the deeper truth of our intrinsic bond to each other and to the Earth.
I sometimes refer to my work as “high level doodling”. When I paint, there is no destination or agenda. Much like dancing, it’s playful and meandering, improvisational. I try not to get too attached to a plan, or stuck in fear. I remain flexible and prepared to reconsider my objectives for the work. And work may not be the right word. I know what work is, having been a builder for many years, doing pretty heavy-duty work. When I shifted my career over 20 years ago, I committed to a radically different mindset. Doing art work is much more like play, which is ultimately my way of celebrating freedom.
Art making is rooted in my earliest years. It allowed me to shut out a chaotic family and while away the hours drawing things around me: the living room furniture, the goldfish, the cat, the willow tree out back. I loved the precision and clarity of mechanical drawings. I colored in endless stacks of coloring books. In a way this is still what I do. The art supplies are better now (sorry, Crayola), but subjectively, it’s not so different.
At the easel I often think in musical terms. I set up a rhythm and build color harmonies. I look at a row of trees and seek to carve an intriguing melodic line. I make a conscious effort to tie things together (think: legato for the musicians out there). I want the eye to bounce from place to place, enjoy the repeated motifs, see the interplay of forces, almost hear the reverberations. I try to resolve all conflicts, to ease all tensions, so the elements within the piece can carry on a balanced and meaningful conversation - a tight jazz ensemble. Some passages are quiet, tender, spacious; others may be loud, crowded, assertive. The goal is to develop a unity that springs out of all that variation, to have a work of art that feels effortless, inevitable and natural. Like a Bach partita!
One daunting challenge for a landscape painter is that the exquisite and evanescent beauty of the Earth is too subtle and changeable to be captured in any painting. However, layers of built-up color on the painted surface can effectively convey a sense of depth, complexity and history. With imagination, both from the artist and the viewer, it is possible to imply vastness within the confines of a tiny frame.
The sense of displacement and disorientation people often carry is at the core of many of our society’s ills. It may be due in part to an ingrained misapprehension that we are somehow cut off and separate from Nature and community. On the other hand, people sometimes tell me that my landscapes feel very familiar, that suddenly they are right there, could enter the painting and live in that world of peace and calm.
So maybe my work is in part an attempt to address our longing to connect and to remind mainly myself what a precious thing it is to be alive. I want people to delight in the wonder and mystery of being a sentient human, to pay attention to the deeper truth of our intrinsic bond to each other and to the Earth.