I am an artist now living in Grass Valley, California. I have been studying and pursuing art for most my life. My art works include Hawaii and California landscapes, creatures of the land and sea, and still life, in either oil or acrylic mediums. On August 8th 2023 my art studio in Lahaina, Maui, was destroyed by the devastating fire that consumed most of Lahaina Town. Everything in it, which included not only over 800 paintings and thousands of dollars of art supplies, but also the 49 year history of my art career and all my family photos. The fire has left a huge whole in my heart. Moving to Grass Valley to be closer to family, will help to repair it. I’m slowly rebuilding my inventory one painting at time. I don’t know where my art journey will lead me. I do know I’ll be exploring new subjects and styles as I navigate this new town of mine.

I have a long history in the art world, I literally grew up in it. My parents opened a gallery, Lakeside Gallery, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe from the mid 70s through 2008. I spent a good deal of my time there. The gallery offered so much more than just beautiful paintings. We had an art supply store, frame shop and classroom. I spent many years working at the gallery as a framer, teacher, gallery curator and all around general manager. I lived and worked as an artist long before I knew I was one. When my parents closed the gallery in 2008 they moved all mom’s paintings into their garage. They were stored there until they passed away and my sister bought their house. I inherited not only mom’s paintings but also paintings of artists she represented. After sorting out over 400 paintings I discovered there were about 75 paintings mom never had the chance to finished. I decided to finish them for her and sign both our names to these paintings. This project has given me the opportunity to focus on something positive and creative after losing so much to the Lahaina fire. It has also kept the memories of my mom and the love she had for painting alive. I feel very fortunate to have had her as my art teacher and mentor. I give her all the credit for my own love of painting and my art career. She was my biggest cheerleader.

Below is a brief history of my art journey after leaving Tahoe.

In 2002 I movedI to Chico California, got a job at a frame shop and started teaching oil painting once a week. In 2008 I opened my art school Art E Studio. The housing market had just crashed and the economy was heading into the rescission. It was a huge risk but one that paid off handsomely. My once a week art classes turned into 12 weekly classes in just a few short years.

In 2012 my sweetheart Charlie and I moved to Maui. It was a life long dream for both of us to live in the Hawaiian Islands. Charlie had a business opportunity to purchase a printing company with his cousin in Lahaina. We both packed up our businesses and shipped them over. I gave myself a year to get established into my new community. Part of that goal was to get into one of the galleries in Lahaina. I met that goal within the first month of moving there. Lucky for me Village Gallery happened to be the oldest operating gallery on the island. My other goal was to reopened Art E Studio and promote it. I got my first student with in 6 months.

I became involved with Lahaina Arts Association three months after arriving in Maui. Lahaina Arts Association was a 501c3 non profit organization that focused on art education for the children of Maui county. The county includes the islands Lana’i and Moloka’i. We served about 900 kids with 13 free weekly art classes and gave out 6 collage scholarships a year. I served as Vice President from 2013 to 2014, and President from 2014 to 2018.

In 2013 the Editor of Walter Foster Publishing contacted me about doing a book on acrylic painting. The book features six artists giving step-by-step instructions designed to help master the art of painting in acrylic. The book “The Art of Painting in Acrylic” has been out since August 2014. Writing the book and working with such a great publishing company was a great experience. Walter Foster Publishing has been around since 1922. I first became familiar with them in the 70s through my parent’s gallery. There was a prominent wall in the art supply room dedicated to Walter Foster “step-by-step” books. I loved looking through them and learning new techniques. I began a collection of my favorites and would often buy older out of print books from yard sales and estate sales. Being approached by them and asked to write this book was a huge honor.

At present my art is being represented by “For The Love of Art” Gallery in Auburn, California and Karen Lei’s Gallery in Kahakuloa Maui. I’ve also had the honor to be asked to be part of two special shows helping Maui artists who lost everything to the fire. The first was at the Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center in Makawao, from May 27th through July 21, 2024. And Wailuku Art Space gallery in Wailuku for the month of August 2024.