Welcome

I'm grateful that you're here. I'm a contemporary artist working in mixed media, living in sunny San Diego.

My Mantra in Life

Art is a calling. It is difficult not to paint.
The creative spirit is restless
​and I find myself heading for the easel--
the way some people come home.
It's the most authentic career I could choose.

Take a Look Around

My art journey is a familiar one.

I studied art in college but took a different path, only to return back to art years later. What was my pivotal moment? One morning, I woke up one and said to myself, "Starting today, I am an artist." I went over to the art supply store and bought a canvas, some paint, and one brush. By the time I got back home and got everything set up to paint, I froze—all my bravado had vanished—and decided to dip my hands in the paint and smear all around the canvas.

I thought to myself: "It has to get better from here."

So I attended an Artist's Way class and the rest of my journey has been nothing elaborate: just a collection of single, simple steps. But I did have a little help along the way when my life intersected with Roy Johnson, the owner of the first gallery that exhibited my work. I had told him I wasn't talented enough to be an artist he smiled and gave me the best piece of advice I've ever had:

"If you want to be an artist, then get up every day and paint."

Stunned by his astonishingly simple truth bomb, I took his advice and within 5 years I was making a reasonable living as an artist. The downside to all that studio time was that I was alone. About that time, someone approached me about teaching a class and I took the opportunity.

If I have any advice for any budding artist, it would be to recognize when the universe opens a door for you—and to walk through it. Teaching was my open door and I gladly embraced it. And if there wasn't an open door, then I was known for making one...that is how Art on 30th, my deep passion, came to be.

I inherited enough money to buy a building and I began working on my dream to open an arts and cultural center for active artists in the heart of North Park. First, I gutted the building and then I planned an art space that would serve the greater community with exhibition areas, studios, and classrooms.

​Now I have the great honor to be mentoring other amazing artists and helping them to grow as professional, selling artists.

And I, of course, am still painting every day.