Never let reality stand in the way of a good painting. This has been my goal for the past twenty years as I have struggled with the challenging medium of watercolor. I want people to get an emotional response from my paintings and sketches and to be charmed and surprised by my interpretation.

My journey started when I took a watercolor class from Skip Whitcomb during my years at art school in Denver. After graduation in 1974, I worked for a variety of graphic design firms in Los Angeles developing corporate identity programs and print graphics. It was exciting for me to teach graphic design as part of the Art Center faculty from 1981 to 1994. In 1984 I joined SKA Design, an environmental graphics firm in South Pasadena, and am now one of the owners. Painting took a back seat for many of these years.

In 1987 I decided to get back to art, just for myself. I started sketching and painting, attempting to document my home, the city of Pasadena. It was changing so quickly it was hard to keep up. I had the good fortune of meeting a number of tremendously supportive and enthusiastic people who gave me the opportunity of exhibiting my work. They also gave me the task of producing paintings for a number of Pasadena events, including the Colorado Street Bridge Party, the Showcase House, The California Art Club Artists for Architecture Painting Project, The Pasadena Symphony and The Pasadena Pops Orchestra.

My work has also been on the covers of a variety of publications including Pasadena Magazine, a book series published by the Historical Society of Southern California, and the Lost and Found Series by Many Moons Press. In 2001 a book of my sketches entitled Pasadena Sketchbook was published. My most recent project is a 2006 calendar of images of Los Angeles. I am currently working on a sketchbook of Redlands, California, featuring images of the City and the University. It is scheduled for publication in 2007.

Some of my teachers include the late Robert E. Wood, Tom Lynch, Marilyn Simandle, Eric Weigardt, Henry Fukuhara, Frank Francese and Charles Reid.

I love to work outside in the beautiful Southern California sunshine, trying to commit to paper the sensations I experience, in order to offer that to you.

My work can be seen at Galerie Gabrie in Pasadena, Bottoms Art Galleries in Santa Barbara, and at Segil Fine Art Gallery in Monrovia. Redland's Sketchbook and Pasadena Sketchbook note cards are available either directly from me (via the contact page) or at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena. Pasadena Sketchbook is currently out of print.

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