BIOGRAPHY

I remember rummaging through thick black portfolios tucked far back in our old and dusty closets, just to get a glimpse of the sketches of pirates or Swedish looking women in long skirts and hair down to the floor. Pulled in by these character drawings, my interest in art ignited. Instinctively, I knew good art. Being educated at home, with my triplet siblings, by an accomplished artist, my mother, I was able to devote myself to studying art at a very young age. My mother always cultivated my creativity; she taught me about texture, line quality, value, color, composition and introduced me to all the great master painters. My love for art reaches as far back as I can remember. Beginning college courses at our local Santa Rosa Jr. Collage at age fifteen, I was able to enroll in my first art class. Having received great instruction, it was only a matter of a few years before I knew art school was for me. Studying art felt so natural; everyone in art spoke my funny artist language. Several years later, I enrolled in the Academy of Art University, where I finished my BFA in illustration. It was there that I was first introduced to N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle’s works; these men became my new heroes.

I enjoyed a wonderful education and had the honor of studying among many accomplished artists, such as Charles Pyle, Kazuhiko Sano, and James Wu. Starting in illustration, I soon realized my passion for fine art was growing and began to switch from working in illustration to working on my own paintings and commissioned pieces. I have had the honor of attending workshops with Jeremy Lipking and have studied the works of contemporary artists like him, in order to continue perfecting my skills.