I love it when people look at my art and smile! In many regards, it’s compensation enough for the work that I do.

I haven’t always been an artist, but I have always had an interest in art. I was born and raised in Richmond, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, an area rich in artistic expression and opportunities. I attended UC Berkeley, where art and design often combined to set global trends.

Grandpa Hart, my mother’s father, was a conductor with the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe Railroad. He worked on the famous San Francisco Chief, and was quite proud to be its conductor as it worked its way through the San Joaquin Valley. Grandpa Hart was also a model railroader, and some of my earliest memories were of his model trains. I developed a love of trains and model trains at about age three. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, I was finally given the gift of an HO Scale model train at age ten. I have been a model railroader ever since!

I was accepted to UC Berkeley at age 16, and attended Cal part time during my senior year in high school. I was also working part-time at Safeway. My employment provided me with illegal access to beer. At age 17, after a high school football game, I got drunk and ended up getting arrested, after drinking a lot of that beer!

The following week, a family friend, who also happened to be a police officer, offered to take me on a “ride-along.” I rode with him while he worked a night shift in the rough City of Richmond, California. It was an exciting, dangerous, and thrilling evening. I was hooked!

I was hired as a police officer at age 20. I couldn’t even buy my own gun and bullets, but I could perform the work of a police officer. I worked in law enforcement for almost 30 years, and all the while, I maintained the hobby of model railroading.

Shortly before my 50th birthday, I tried to paint a back drop on my model railroad. It was a disaster. Nothing looked like I wanted it to look. I drove to the local art store and bought a book and its accompanying workbook, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. I began sketching, and I haven’t stopped.

My first paintings were acrylic, and my subject matter was trains. I was in love with the process and the subject. Because I had spent a career focusing on details (fingerprints at crime scenes, exact measurements at accident scenes, carefully recording my observations in detailed reports, etc.), and because I had focused on minute details as a model railroader, seeing the details of light, shadows, shapes, etc., seemed to come naturally to me.

I left my position as a Police Lieutenant with the Santa Rosa Police Department in 2007 to pursue a full-time art career.

I entered my first juried show in 2009, and all three of my entries were accepted. One of my pieces was one of the few that sold during that show, and it sold to a locally well-known art collector.

In 2011, I took oil painting lessons from a master painter, Charles Becker. He taught me how to paint from life, and how to paint using oils. I studied with him for about nine months, and since have painted exclusively with oils. I have been juried into shows across California, am represented by three galleries, and also keep busy with commissions. I have also received awards from various venues.

In my police career, I was witness to some horrible human behavior. I saw the rippling effects of murders, fatal traffic accidents, molested children, substance abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, natural disasters, and more. Although the job was satisfying from many perspectives, and was often exciting and challenging, it was usually sad. Nobody calls the police when things are going well. There is ALWAYS a problem. Someone is negatively affected. People are unhappy. Nobody is smiling.

Now, art provides me with a chance to make people smile. And, that gives me great satisfaction! People are often surprised when they learn that I was a police officer. Art also gives me an opportunity to connect with a diversity of people, and to help dispel many stereotypes people hold about law enforcement and government.