I always knew that I wanted to be an artist. For more than 60 years it has been a gift, a curse, a passion. I’m in the studio all day, every day. Learning. Drawing, painting, building, shooting photos. Each piece a jumping-off place to the next.

My art is not about making a beautiful object, it is about telling a story, sharing a thought, or exploring an idea. My images — and the media used to create them — are changeable. Sometimes realistic, sometimes surrealistic, sometimes abstract. Sometimes traditional acrylic or oils. Sometimes digital manipulation. A reflection of my experiences, a way to share what is happening in my life.

ON THE BEACH
Recently, regular trips to Lake Michigan have reinforced a life-long love of found beach objects and of the vistas provided by open water. This love inspires my most recent work, allowing me a measure of serenity, humor and hope in today’s divisive and hate-filled world.

A sea gull lands twenty feet in front of me. The air is cool with the scent of fish and decaying vegetation. The light is a soft grey with pink slashed along the horizon. Objects on the shore whisper their stories to me. I discover a smooth grey stone covered in tiny holes, an angular brown pebble with contrasting lines, a bit of plastic (the new beach glass). Bits of an extinguished fire, broken concrete, once even a carved fragment from some grand building hint at their mysterious pasts. My spirit is repaired.

Listen for the surf as you stroll through my paintings. With luck you’ll be able to join me for a day at the beach.