"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 strict agenda. It’s like dancing: playful and meandering, improvisational. I try not to get too attached to a plan, or stuck in fear. I am flexible and prepared to reconsider my objectives for the work. Calling it work may be an exaggeration. I know what work is. I did pretty heavy-duty work as a builder for too long. When I shifted my career over 20 years ago, I committed to a radically different mindset. This work is much more like play, which is ultimately my way of celebrating freedom.
Making art is rooted in my earliest years when I would 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 colored in endless stacks of coloring books. In some ways this is still what I do. The art supplies are much better now (sorry, Crayola), but subjectively, it’s not so different.
At the easel I think in musical terms. I set up a rhythm and build color harmonies. I consider a row of trees and carve out an intriguing melodic line in paint. I make a conscious effort to weave things together, so that the eye can bounce from point to point and enjoy the interplay of forces, hear the reverberations. I try to resolve all conflicts, to ease tensions, so the elements within the piece can all carry on a balanced and delightful conversation, much like the play of a tight jazz ensemble. Some passages may be quiet, tender, spacious, others more 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.
The daunting thing about being a landscape painter is that the exquisite and evanescent beauty of the Earth is too large, subtle and changeable to capture 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, to breathe life into ordinary materials.
I often hear from viewers that my work gives them a heightened sense of peace and calm. Also that my landscapes feel very familiar, that suddenly the person is right there, could enter the painting and live in that timeless world. So the purpose of my work is to remind mainly myself that it’s a precious thing to be alive and especially to be human.
People often carry a disturbing sense of displacement, disorientation and disconnect. It’s clear to me that this is due in large part to an ingrained misperception that we are cut off and separate from community and from Nature. I paint to honor my experience of wonder and delight as a sentient human, to pay attention to the deeper truth of our intrinsic bond to each other and to the Earth. My work is in part an attempt to address our longing to connect.
I sometimes refer to my work as “high level doodling”. When I paint, there is no destination or strict agenda. It’s like dancing: playful and meandering, improvisational. I try not to get too attached to a plan, or stuck in fear. I am flexible and prepared to reconsider my objectives for the work. Calling it work may be an exaggeration. I know what work is. I did pretty heavy-duty work as a builder for too long. When I shifted my career over 20 years ago, I committed to a radically different mindset. This work is much more like play, which is ultimately my way of celebrating freedom.
Making art is rooted in my earliest years when I would 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 colored in endless stacks of coloring books. In some ways this is still what I do. The art supplies are much better now (sorry, Crayola), but subjectively, it’s not so different.
At the easel I think in musical terms. I set up a rhythm and build color harmonies. I consider a row of trees and carve out an intriguing melodic line in paint. I make a conscious effort to weave things together, so that the eye can bounce from point to point and enjoy the interplay of forces, hear the reverberations. I try to resolve all conflicts, to ease tensions, so the elements within the piece can all carry on a balanced and delightful conversation, much like the play of a tight jazz ensemble. Some passages may be quiet, tender, spacious, others more 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.
The daunting thing about being a landscape painter is that the exquisite and evanescent beauty of the Earth is too large, subtle and changeable to capture 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, to breathe life into ordinary materials.
I often hear from viewers that my work gives them a heightened sense of peace and calm. Also that my landscapes feel very familiar, that suddenly the person is right there, could enter the painting and live in that timeless world. So the purpose of my work is to remind mainly myself that it’s a precious thing to be alive and especially to be human.
People often carry a disturbing sense of displacement, disorientation and disconnect. It’s clear to me that this is due in large part to an ingrained misperception that we are cut off and separate from community and from Nature. I paint to honor my experience of wonder and delight as a sentient human, to pay attention to the deeper truth of our intrinsic bond to each other and to the Earth. My work is in part an attempt to address our longing to connect.