As a Bay Area native, my earliest memories are of family trips to Yosemite, Muir Woods and Point Reyes. It was in these National Parks that I first developed the urge to create, to paint and draw, and to appreciate the beauty around me.

After relocating to Michigan as a boy, I continued that initial spark and love for art by receiving my B.F.A. from Albion College with a double major in Honors Economics and Painting. After graduation I knew I was destined to return to San Francisco to pursue my artistic career.

After four years of intense study, I received my Master's Degree in Illustration from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. It was a dream that culminated in a final thesis graphic novel based on the life of my friend and his experiences as a soldier in Iraq.

I work in ink and watercolor because there is a certain immediacy to them that both excites and challenges me. Using a brush and ink allows me to get the right result. The brush can be declarative for scenes of intense emotion or it can be fluid and airy for lighter moments. Putting ink to paper is a freeing and fluid experience—I enjoy not knowing where those lines and splashes of color will take me.

Stylistically, my art is a healthy combination of the clean look of M.C Escher and the comic book work of Mike Mignola. The pen and ink drawings of Francisco Goya are so intense and moody that they really turned me on to what you can do with just a brush and ink. However, on the other end of the scale, I am extremely influenced by the paintings of the Fauvists. I was taken aback by the blinding color of Matisse's “Red Room.” The almost decorative style really appealed to me and has influenced how I paint. I realized that my work did not have to fall under one of these categories and that I could combine them to create something completely different. As I continue to forge a career and a life here in San Francisco I never take for granted how lucky I am to do what I love.