I have been an artist for as long as I have memories. As a child I would see drawings and models created by my older brothers and was inspired to follow in their footsteps. My father, a carpenter by trade, would often bring home various scraps of paper, wood, drawing and painting supplies. My mother always encouraged the freedom of expression found in this practice and I would spend countless hours exploring the limits of my imagination. Some of my youngest recollections are of sneaking into my brothers rooms, putting on their records, laying paper and pencil out on the floor and getting lost for hours. Not much has changed. Listening to music and letting it carry me away as a brush dances across a canvas is still a vital part of my creative process.

As a youngster I would hone my skills attempting to replicate sports heroes from my baseball card collection or recreating scenes from my favorite comic books. As a teen-ager, I became fascinated with album cover art and was influenced heavily by the works of Hipgnosis (Storm Thorgerson), Roger Dean and other classic 70’s rock albums. I eventually combined my love of music with my art and started playing in local rock bands. This gave me the opportunity design logos and posters, create artwork for the bands and play the music that inspired me.

At the age of 20, I became a father, and put my artistic dreams aside to be the best father I could be. The next decade consisted of years working labor and factory jobs to make ends meet, a divorce, new relationship and a new marriage. At the prodding of my new wife to continue my artistic pursuits I went back to school in 2000, studying photography at College of DuPage, a local community college with a wonderful photography program. The timing happened to align with the dawning of the digital age of photography. The curriculum of the school was still based in the darkroom/film environment, which was a wonderful basis to start on, but I found that I spent more time on my own studying and learning the ins and outs of the digital realm. I taught myself Photoshop and other digital programs that I felt were more akin to my interests and offered expanded creativity beyond that of the darkroom environment. And so I went about with my own studies instead of the usual program. I spent the next several years working in photo labs and camera sales, working as a school and event photographer and assisting other professional photographers on varying shoots and projects, learning and absorbing all that I could.

After moving to Colorado in 2005, my wife encouraged me to take the daring step of opening my own gallery. So, with her help and her blessing, in the spring of 2006, we opened Stoneheart Gallery, in our new hometown of Evergreen Colorado. At the gallery I represented myself with my photography along with ten other local artist of varying mediums. The gallery was a huge success for us. It quickly grew to representing over 30 artists from all over the country. It didn’t take long until the influence of working with other artists started to affect my photography. Soon I started incorporating unconventional techniques into my photographs. Printing on wet papers with conventional inkjet printers, hand painting in details, scratching out others, layering in multiple images and more. My images continued to take on more and more painterly qualities until, eventually I found myself in front of a blank canvas with brush in hand. In the following years the boundaries between photography and painting continued to blur. I discovered that having the ability, knowledge and talent to move in, out and in-between these formats kept the creative mind busy, lively and productive. If I hit a wall in one, the other rises to the forefront and the ebb and flow works wonderfully for me.

After six successful years in Evergreen at Stoneheart, we sold the gallery and migrated to a new space in Denver. Opening The Muse Fine Art Gallery on Bannock Street in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood. Being located just across the street from the Denver Art Museum and Clyfford Still Museum was very motivating and exciting. However, after a couple of years in the new space I had to face the realization that my personal artistic growth was suffering.

I was just spreading myself too thin. Providing a high standard of service to the other artists that I was representing - I found less and less time for my own growth. The time had come for me to make a decision. After much careful consideration, I made the decision to step away from a being a gallerist and became a full time, fully focused artist. I have spent the past several years concentrating my efforts inward instead of outward. Working and selling out of my home studio in Colorado Springs and representing myself. I feel that I have finally reached that point where it is time for me to seek gallery representation and just be the artist I was always meant to be.

My paintings are intuitively formed, mostly acrylic, mostly figurative works of an Expressionistic style. My influences range from the classic works of Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Fritz Scholder and Picasso to contemporary artists that I worked for and with like Lance Green and Christian Dore.

My photographic works range from Tintype style to digital illustrations. Early on I was drawn to the painterly portraits and figurative works of Edward Steichen and to the dark and almost foreboding images of Alfred Stieglitz. Cityscapes and street scenes seemed to move me and harken back to a time nearly forgotten. Stumbling upon Robert Parke-Harrison’s The Architect’s Brother, around 2004,really moved me in the direction of photography for-art’s-sake as opposed to simply documenting scenes. It also harkened back, in my mind at least, to those amazing Storm Thorgerson album covers. Although I don’t so much go into creating ‘sets’ and ‘studio works’, I do try to create something ethereal, almost haunting, with most of my current photographic pieces using existing natural and man-made environments. I like working in themes of ‘forgotten’, ‘abandoned’ and ‘emptiness’, allowing the viewer plenty of room to fill in the story with their own circumstances, memories and imagination. Some artists work very hard to deliver every excruciating detail. My feeling is that the work is intended for the viewer. My intent is to start them down a path, but then give them the space and permission to add their own commentary; thus allowing the strongest connection between artist and viewer.

I have sold over 300 pieces throughout the past 13 years. My photography, digital works, paintings and mixed media works are in collections all over the globe. I hope that you may find a piece or two that speaks directly to you.

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