Growing up in Long Beach California, exposed me to many exciting places…

My family and I went to Sea World, Marine-Land, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Alligator Ranch and many of the beautiful beaches. At the beaches, I explored tide pools, picked up seashells and star fish and many other creatures. I started coloring this sea life with crayons at six years old.  My Mother saw my interest in coloring and that I had talent, so at seven years old, she signed me up for art classes.   

My first Art Teacher was Athena Hall. In her studio, I drew with crayons and pencils until I moved up to oil paints at the age of 12.  Athena lived to paint!  She taught me how to let my feelings out on paper.  It was so wonderful to express myself through painting!  The smell of turpentine filled her studio, and that smell still reminds me of my beginnings in art.

At age 12, I was the youngest artist in the Long Beach Art Association.  Other artists even purchased my paintings.  Why?  They said “I love your clouds!”

When I was a young adult, my big break came as I entered the billboard business in 1977.  I studied under the giants of the trade, and learned fine art on a grand scale.  During those years I painted every imaginable subject. With my love of painting it didn’t matter to me whether I painted perfume, a beer bottle, celebrity portraits, nature, sea-life, etc. I was so excited!  After, 10 years I received the title “Master Pictorial Painter.”  It was a great accomplishment and I painted at that level for 6 more years.  During this time, I painted a Sea Life mural on a condominium in downtown Long Beach, California.  It was 215’ long and 14’ high.  This got the attention of those who run the LA county fair.  Which led to the privilege of being the Feature Artist at the LA county fair.   

After the billboard years, I moved on to painting wall murals and became what is known as a “Wall Dog” which was becoming a revived art form.  For 25 years, I painted murals traveling all over the United States.  The murals I painted included the following: City of Long Beach, Disney’s Epcot Center, Fry’s Electronics, Nike, Adidas, Apple, Spotify, Subaru, Lexus, Nextel, Movie ads, Beer ads, Soda ads, and Vegas Casinos just to name a few.  What I was well known for were pictorials which included: Pink, Katy Perry, Elton John, Biggy Smalls, Adele, Pharrell Williams, Dawn Staley, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Scottie Pippen, Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali, Stephen Yzerman, Deion Sanders, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders, and many more. 

Now that I am retired and living in South Dakota, I am eager for this new chapter in my life to solely paint fine art on canvas in my home studio!  I feel that same excitement I felt as a young child just starting to paint but with much more knowledge!  Now, my goal is, when the viewer can walk into my paintings and feel the emotions that are expressed there, then I have succeeded as a fine artist.