"I have been compelled to draw, paint, and sculpt since I was six years old. From the first grade upward, after earning first place in a juried show in the first grade, and later receiving recognition for my early artistic endeavors in Baltimore, Maryland, I then earned a BFA in Art at the University of Alabama. Much of what I do has been influence by the fine art of “learning to see”, implemented masterfully by those professors essential in taking me far beyond the face value of that degree. I’m graced in this regard by having studied with Professors Alvin Sella, Richard Zoellner, and Arthur Oakes. After graduation, I began working with watercolor portraiture and continued to exhibit pieces in galleries and patron’s homes in several counties throughout Alabama. Placing in juried shows and exhibitions concomitant with my tenure as Artist in Residence for the Sumter County Fine Arts Council in the 1980s, and as adjunct art instructor for Livingston University (now the University of West Alabama), I continued to explore the intricacies of the human face and its expression of emotion. Concomitantly, I felt a spiritual awareness of the beauty of nature creep from my soul into the watercolors that had become my favorite medium. Later, I rediscovered and applied the acrylic paints I’d used in college to canvas and to a more abstracted interpretation of trees, of water, of sky, and of terrain."