Biography

About My Art:
Hi I create relief, photography & digital art and provide direction for The Artist’s Market.

I like to create unique art pieces and inspirational spaces, which allow one to enjoy and discover. Often I will take a nature photograph where I see something ‘hidden’, bring it into Photoshop where I filter and digitally paint to either abstract or bring out the hidden features of the photo. Then I will hand emboss & incorporate concrete or metal into the piece or frame and finish it off with acid to ‘etch or stain’ creating a very special earthy-organic work. I call these my ‘hybrids’: a combination of the 3D, photography and digital.

Whether it involves a puzzle or simply meditating on the interaction of light, my handcrafted work can be enjoyed as focal conversation pieces or key parts of an inspirational environment.
Versatility of working in virtually any medium (from digital to portable lightweight to permanent outdoor installations) allows me creative freedom to produce works that are beyond traditional classification – imagination is more important than the medium…

Versatility with Materials:
Typically I use Hydrostone and resins with acrylic paint for indoor pieces and concrete (or Gardencast) stained with acid, Lucite acrylic sheets which I heat form, and copper for outdoor pieces. My prints are of archival quality using Epson Ultrachrome K3 inks.
I have a high tech background & multimedia & streaming video which allows me to easily transfer my work over to the Internet and help take the Market into cyberspace.

Comment on Participating in the Market:
Now I realize that many artists have different sales cycles and business models than I do, and I am only sharing this to encourage other atists during the slow times…

I began setting up at the market in June of 2004, during its first year. My consistency was at times ‘inconsistent’. I’ve never sold much product, although I have good days. I’m usually in the bottom one-third of sales, but my ‘zero’ days are becoming fewer & fewer. Business is picking up but I still struggle and have a ways to go before reaching the level of some of our artists.

Some may argue that the larger shows are a ‘fast-track’ to success, and I believe a healthy mix is good.

I was about to make a big push last fall to make my artwork ‘self-sufficient’. However the market was about to ‘go away’ and I really did not want to lose the wonderful group of artists we had. I saw an opportunity to not only keep us together, but to build the market into something artists similar to myself could really thrive.

Maybe it’s a reward for sacrifice, but despite being focused on the market and helping other artists, something interesting has happened: in the last couple of months I’ve had more art-related sales (including commissions & special orders) than all of 2006! Now it’s up to me to sustain this trend, and I will rely on our group to help me.

So, if you ask me – ‘where do those big orders come from?’ I’ll tell you – ‘sitting out in the hot sun at The Artist’s Market with no ‘sales’, but ‘selling’ nonetheless’….