The Genesis

My family published newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area. My grandfather founded the

papers and my father was recruited into the family business as a teenager. He did every job at

the papers, working his way up to eventually becoming the General Manager.

He was good at it and made a success of the family business.

But my dad had a passion and compulsion to paint. His home office doubled as an art studio

and he churned out paintings even if he only had time for his art on the weekends.

At the age of 40, my dad sold the family business and went full time into art.

My creativity was channeled through writing, photography, making videos, crafts, pretty much everything except proper paint on canvas. Until that day when I put it all together.

I was always coocoo for animals. I told my mom I would never have kids, only puppies. I obsessed on the unfair treatment of animals. If I saw someone pull too hard on a dog’s leash I would think about it for weeks. I wanted to protect the animals.

Of course, I thought this meant I should be a veterinarian. But that was forgotten sometime in high school when I realized that I didn’t want to patch up broken animals for the rest of my days.

I needed another outlet. So, I married my creativity and love of animals, which is what you see here on my website.

It didn’t happen overnight. Oh no. It has taken me a lifetime to find my mission. I knew I had one, thought it was 10 other things before I found it. But when I found it, I knew. It’s like finding your perfect partner and feeling aligned to another human that makes you better. Stronger. Loved. Relieved.

That’s how I got to this place. What makes my paintings different than all the other beautiful animal art out there? I am certainly not the best realistic artist that can make you feel like the animal is so real it will jump off the canvas at you. I haven’t studied fine art nor have great technical prowess.

When I started, it was for the pure joy of experimenting and doing something creative. In that playful space, I found a new way to use oil enamel paint. I liked the consistency of oil enamels and with a little innovation, I landed on the mother-load of patterns. With some added ingredients, I was able to mix the paints in a way that allowed them to mingle in various patterns yet not mix.

With more practice, I discovered how to control the mingling paint and even have some colors “heavier” than others using additives. With the different weights, the patterns started to emerge in more deliberate fashion.

I call this TD-bu. Top Down- Bottom Up. Top down meaning the big picture, for example how the earth looks from space.

All you see is a blue-green sphere. Bottom Up is the detail. Zoom in and you see the landscape, mountains, oceans. Zoom even closer and you can get to the most microscopic patterns on the planet.

These animals represent fragility and power. The tiny patterns are delicate and mesmerizing as they create microcosms of more patterns. And of course, all together they make an animal in all it’s raw and powerful beauty.

I don’t want to see these animals disappear.

We are all interconnected on this blue-green sphere making its way in the universe.

When we lose our endangered species, we lose part of ourselves.