"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
At the easel I often think in musical terms. I set up a rhythm and build color harmonies. I paint a row of trees by carving an intriguing melodic line. I make a conscious effort to connect things, tie them together (think: legato for the musicians out there). I want the viewer's eye to bounce from place to place, enjoy the repeated motifs, see the interplay of forces, almost hear the reverberations. I seek 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 achieve a unity that springs out of all that variation, to have a work of art that feels effortless, inevitable and natural - a Bach partita!
Art-making is rooted in my earliest years, when I could happily shut out a chaotic family and while away the hours, focused on drawing things around me: the living room furniture, the goldfish, the cat, the willow tree out back. The precision and clarity of mechanical drawings spoke to me. I colored in endless stacks of coloring books. This is basically what I still do. The art supplies are better now (sorry, Crayola), but subjectively, it’s not so different. Painting is ultimately my way of celebrating personal freedom.
I often refer to my work as “high level doodling”. Much like dancing, it’s playful and meandering, improvisational. When I paint, there is no destination or agenda. I try not to get too attached to a plan, or stuck in fear, to remain flexible and prepared to reconsider my objectives for the work. And work is really not the 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. Making artwork is much more about play.
The landscape painter faces an impossible task. The exquisite and evanescent beauty of the Earth is too subtle and dynamic to be captured in any painting. And yet, layers of built-up color and texture on the painted surface can effectively convey depth, complexity and nuance. With imagination, both from the artist and the viewer, it is possible to perceive vastness within the confines of a tiny frame.
Artists are observers, and I've noticed that people often carry feelings of displacement and disorientation, even dread. I wonder if this is partly due to an ingrained misapprehension that we are somehow separate from Nature and cut off from community, something I struggled with in my early adulthood.
My paintings on occasion seem to lighten that burden, to elicit a feeling of intimacy and connection. Suddenly, you are right there, could enter the painting and live in that world of peace and calm. So perhaps my work is in part an attempt to address our longing for contact and to remind mainly myself what a precious thing it is to be alive. Great art can awaken us to the delight, wonder and mystery of life as a sentient human, to witness the deeper truth of our intrinsic bond to each other and to the Earth.