When I was young I wanted to be an explorer.
I never made it to those places I was fascinated by Madagascar, Baffin Island, Inner Mongolia, Africa, the Amazon, and Tierra del Fuego.
But my life through its twists and turns has been a life of different explorations, different careers.
I started making art relatively late (turning 30). I drew a lot when I was a child and admired my mother for her portraits. I had grown up in the Chicago area, entered and left the Catholic Seminary, went to university in St.Louis, Missouri. Trained as a geologist, I worked in geology for a short period of time but moved on to other things. I tried various types of work, all kinds of work. As I changed jobs, I changed locations. I lived in various places all over the US: Michigan, Missouri, Washington, Arizona, Montana, California, and British Columbia. During this time, my first wife and I had a baby daughter. Unfortunately, my marriage broke apart and ended up in divorce. I moved to Colorado where I started my art career at the University of Colorado, Denver. I wanted a new beginning and found it in art.
With my new girlfriend I moved to Massachusetts, then Maine. During the period living on the East Coast, my girlfriend became my wife and my daughter came to live with us at 8 yr. old. During that period I worked hard at painting. I made my money as a food server and/or art model. I had some success, being shown in galleries and museums in Maine. In 1986, we moved with our daughter to California continuing on my art-making and working as a food server. For a short time, I had a studio in downtown San Diego, showed in Old Town in San Diego, had a couple of agents. After a few years, when I was in my 40’s, I realized that I needed to find another form of work to support myself. I went back to grad school at San Diego State University in the graduate program in geography, specializing in GIS (geographic information systems) and remote sensing interpretation. I got a professional GIS Analyst job in Redding, Ca, worked for them for 11 years, then began working as an independent GIS Analyst which I still do.
In 1993 my wife, daughter, and I moved to Redding, Ca. so I could start work as a GIS Analyst. While working in GIS I made many maps and graphics using the computer. I got interested in digital media, such as digital painting, landscape visualization, 3D work, and digital work in general. Since then, I have continued working in GIS, but have, also, kept my interest in digital media and art.
In 2013, still working independently as a GIS Analyst, but semi-retired, my wife and I moved to Chico, Ca. Re-entering the art world, I enrolled in ceramics, printmaking, and digital media at CSU Chico. Since then I have been reshaping my life to once again be the artist I was when I was younger.
My art has changed too. I have become interested in mixing traditional art media with digital art media. I have renewed my interest in encaustic (wax media) both because I like working with this media and because I find encaustics the perfect medium to mix digital media with more traditional media.
I have, also, started to do image transfers for my digital art using DASS techniques.
I am also becoming interested in Augmented Reality in the use of displaying art.
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