I started out my art career at Gray Reids Department Store in Reno (Now Circus Circus) as a fashion illustrator for ads in the newspaper. I then turned to working for advertising agencies and was art director for the California Chamber of Commerce. I have had a graphic design and marketing firm for 20 years. I taught art through Sierra Arts Foundation in the public schools and was on the faculty of the University of Nevada Reno.

Throughout the years, I have painted commissioned portraits and published giclee prints of flowers. The tulips are part of a series of flowers. I painted 9 all together. I write about each flower after looking up folk lore and spiritual meanings about each flower. For instance, did you know that if you put geraniums in the window they keep the flys out?

Nothing endures longer as a family heirloom than a painted portrait.
Snapshots are fine as nostalgic records, as items in scrapbooks or for use as historical documentation, but most of them end up in boxes or trunks, out of sight and mind. Portraits, in comparison, are hung on walls as works of fine art, as familial treasures and reminders of a family's proud tradition.

As a portrait artist, my eye and brush capture the personalty and nuances of my subjects's character and soul in a way no other medium can. From the great European families of the Renaissance to today, to those who value the richness of life, the dignity of the human spirit and the importance of preserving a family's heritage have sat for portrait artists. Portraits are painted to last forever - permanent fixtures of homes, and handed down from generation to generation.

I have been working in watercolor because I enjoy the process and the final outcome of a particular look and feel that only watercolor can express.

In my studio at Wildflower Village, I will be exploring other mediums with mixed media character studies. I am turning 60 in January 2007 and I plan to produce a series of paintings showcasing men and women baby boomers turning sixty. I want to depict these subjects as vibrant fulfilled people exploring their uniqueness of this decade.

I look forward to a new chapter in my creative process.