ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY

I started my career as a student of art, majoring in commercial art at San Jose State College (now University) back in the 1950's. I became sidetracked by the realization that art might not put food on the table nor a car in the garage. By the time I graduated, I had a BA in Psychology. I then completed a doctorate in psychology and spent the next forty-odd years as a clinical psychologist in Canada, California and Eugene. I had painted (mostly watercolors) in my spare time, but as the demands of a family and my professional career increased, I gradually quit. Throughout these years, however, I kept alive a fantasy of "being an artist", assuming that I could return to painting when I had retired.

I then did retire in 2002. Inexplicably, my return to the creation of artwork was through the medium of printmaking, of which I knew next to nothing. I took classes at the Maude Kerns Art Center, in Eugene, learning the basics of relief and intaglio printing. Then, two years ago a close friend encouraged me to return to watercolor painting. We took some introductory classes taught by Kenji Kobayashi, through the Peterson Barn community program, in Eugene. In the Spring of 2005, I took a week-long watercolor painting workshop through Springfield's Emerald Art Center from Judy Morris, a nationally know artist who lives in Medford. Other than these two classes, I am self-taught in watercolor painting.

I now feel like a child in a candy store. There are so many fascinating subjects and marvelous techniques to explore that I find it difficult to settle on any single line of creativity. I started by painting flowers and still life. Last year I investigated painting boats and waterfront scenes and lighthouses. Most recently I have turned my attention to subjects I encountered in Japan, when my wife and I visited a couple of years ago.

I have exhibited watercolor paintings at the juried (Eugene, Oregon) Mayor's Art Show and have had a painting accepted for this year's annual exhibit of the Society of Watercolor Artists (Ft. Worth, Texas) and the Northwest Watercolor Society (Seattle, Washington).

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