There's a feeling you get when you witness the atmospheric changes in nature and realize you are part of that--the light and shadows, the colors, the mist across the landscape. It's a tangible spirituality available to everyone on a personal basis. It is that feeling as well as the beauty we see that I attempt to portray. So that when you take one of my paintings indoors, it is a small window back to that emotional experience with the divinity of nature, the sacred wild. That would be my hope. Growing up on a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley of California, my family divided time between ranch life and traveling to rodeos. My father was a professional cowboy and an artist. Riding horses, chasing stray cattle and swimming in the reservoir passed summer days. A profound love of nature simply developed. That appreciation for the natural world continued during my years in Germany, the Eastern Sierra, the California coast, and Mammoth, where I lived and skied for 17 years. My art has been uniquely shaped by experiences in these distinct locales, from storms that devour huge landscapes to the fading light of an ocean sunset that spawns new colors. I studied art early on, winning the Bank of America Award for Art in High School and around that time designed Chowchilla Western Stampede Logo with my dad. We also initiated the first Chowchilla Western Stampede Art Show. Graphic design jobs and teaching art are mixed with fine art through my life: Children's Summer Workshops, Hanford, CA Art Teacher, High Sierra School, Mammoth Lakes, CA. One Man Show at Mammoth Mountain Inn, Winner Sierra Summer Festival Poster contest, Mammoth, CA. Developed and implemented four multicultural arts programs for the Chuchansee and Mono tribes of Madera and Fresno Counties, the Piute-Shishone people of Camp Antelope and Bridgeport Communities of Mono County. Later fascilitated and empowered Native Americans to take over those art programs. Received scholarships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Mono County Arts Council for Multicultural arts classes which I taught. Shows: Bishop Mule Days Art Show Mammoth Memorial Day Art Show Chowchilla Western Stampede Art Show Heal the Ocean, Santa Barbara, CA. Artwalk, Ventura, CA. Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Art Show- received Best Wave Award Casa de la Guerra Museum Show, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens Art Show Spirit of the Horse, Carpenteria Ventura Visitors Center, Solo Exhibit Education: Technology Development Center, Multimedia Technician College of the Sequoias, AA degree in Art Fresno State College Cerro Coso College: Honorary degree for Basketmaking Workshops with: Peggy Gray, High Sierra Richard Schloss, Santa Barbara Oak Group Mentors: Mariusa Verbrugghe, Mary Sky Robinson. Honors: I have been honored to be "buzzed" by a California Condor, so close I could hear its wings in the wind. I have been honored by a mocking bird landing in my hand. I have been honored to see the Sherwin Mountain Range crawling with migrating Mule Deer. I have been honored to ski many years in magnificence. I am honored to have seen and painted the great wave at Maverick's. I have been honored to be in the wild forests of Hawaii and Oregon. I am honored to see the Great Pacific Ocean outside my windows in Ventura, CA. I am honored to be invited to stay at Maynard Dixons ranch in Utah. I was honored to meet wild horses.