I have a BA from UC Davis where I was fortunate to have amazing instructors and mentors (Wayne Thiebaud, Squeak Carnwath, Ken Henderson, Cornelia Schultz, Annabeth Rosen and David Hollowell. Hollowell was the most influential to me as a student and artist.

While I do work in many mediums, oil and cold wax makes up the majority of my work. I love the matte finish because no matter where the work hangs in your home - it will be seen without glare. The medium is so flexible, forgiving, and adaptive. Scratch into it, sand it, reveal underlayers, and work with multiple other media when working in cold wax and oil. There is really no end to the medium.

Along with cold wax, I work in encaustic (hot wax), collage, mixed media, and upcycled works of art. Upcycle is using existing objects (sometimes others discards) and using these objects to create a new artistic creation. Sometimes called repurposed, recycled or assemblage, this is a way that artists use existing items which often find their way into a landfill and give it new purpose.

My Up-Cycled works are primarily made from discarded wood and embellished with random metal, glass, and other found objects. This body of work is direct commentary and interpretation of our “throw away society.” Whether the wood has come from old fences, barns, side of the road, a beach, it had a life and a purpose prior to being cast aside as junk, old and worthless. Often under the tattered and bleached out weathered surface can be a beautiful and interesting object. A little cleaning, sanding, and sometime some “polish” brings out the grains, marks and imperfections and give it new life and beauty: tales of a life well lived, holes from intruders, and reminisce of its experience and travels. The same is true of our homeless, elderly, and mentally conflicted. There is Beauty in what lies beneath the surface.

Whether in sculpture or painting I look to create harmonious color, texture, interesting lines and mark making and an overall aesthetic to create a smile, feeling or story. I hope you enjoy the work, and whether you do or don’t I would love to hear your thoughts.