The end is never too far from the beginning

I was born in small town Kansas, USA (b. 6/12/57) and spent most of my youth within the state lines. My earliest memories of making things with my hands was in my dad's basement hobby shop. He was a watercolor painter, wood and metal found object assembler and tinkerer. To teach us a lesson once, he painted a picture of an elephant with thick black outlines and broad patches of color not contained within the line. (see "other" section). He told us to always "color outside of the lines."

I took as many art classes in junior high and high school that I could. I told my parents I wanted to be an artist and enroll at the Kansas City Art Institute. They responded with moral support but the requirement that I go to a Liberal Arts college if I wanted their financial support. They explained that I might need to learn how to write an essay someday that explained my artistic intent to a larger audience. I rolled my eyes and went off to the fine arts department of the University of Kansas.

I didn't complete my BFA but spent 3 years learning drawing, printmaking, design and art history. I learned a great deal there but the most important thing to come out of my college years was the intro to feminism and the realization that my tomboy tendencies translated to being gay.

Tired of the conservative Midwest, I moved to Seattle in 1983 and worked as a graphic designer. Starting as a layout artist in a retail department store and ending as the owner and creative director of a small design firm.

The design principals that I learned were valuable and the stimulation of the design process exhilarating but the stress of the corporate world worked me over. I found myself unfulfilled and slipping into a depression. A talented therapist pointed me back towards my soul and I began making art again. This time, I was going to try to paint.

I have been painting now for 9 years and am happier than I have ever been.

The content of my work is still informed by my childhood in my dad's shop. I loved bending wire and nailing things together and grinding metal edges smooth. I loved wandering the isles of the hardware store with him examining all the parts and pieces of things (still do). The lines, the shapes, the textures and the manliness of it all. One of my earliest drawings was of a "machine" that I made when I was 5 (see "other" section) that currently hangs in my studio. From the beginning I was fascinated with the mechanical world and how it worked.

At this time I'm working on a series of paintings that give homage to the soon to disappear Internal Combustion engine. The ultimate 19th – 20th century boy toy machine. It satisfies the tomboy, the mechanic, the environmentalist and the artist in me. I feel like after 6 years of artistic searching and exploring I'm finally driving home. Without the petrol but with the smell of oil (paint) around me.