Art

"Water Wonderland," "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you," "The islands and bays are for sportsmen." Growing up in Michigan, water becomes a part of who you are. It's hard to imagine life without it, and no matter where I travel, it is something I seek. Alpine lakes, winding rivers, or expansive sea, it's the water that makes a place feel like home anywhere I go. It also has become a theme unremovable from my art. Combined with a love for outdoor adventure and all things vintage and crumbling, I find my subject matter: seaside lifestyle. Sailors, fishermen, surfers, divers, paddlers — we all get it. The easy-going dock-side culture where the people are connected with the land and sea. Beauty abounds where you slow down, and develop an appreciation for simplicity in lifestyle and design.

 

Some of my favorite things: environmentally-conscious brands, nostalgic color palettes, woodblock prints, gyotaku, and analog photography. As an illustrator and painter, my work sing to a locations personality, and as a sort of case study, clipping a thumbnail of a retro find on the street or in the marina. The old flower truck that slowly puts the streets, the chippy rowboat bobbing amongst the gulls, or a bright red vespa leaning against a crumbling wall while it's owner sits at a table nearby sharing wine and oysters with friends. My work omits people, but always suggests their presence. Life's simple pleasures, and the symbols therein, are what I draw, and what I paint. To romanticize these concepts, I stylize and exaggerate, intensifying color and light.

 

Despite a career in Graphic Design, this is the stuff that ignites that wild creative inspiration, and lets you know you are meant to be an artist. I occasionally submit work into local shows and galleries, have held artist guild memberships, and attend residencies when the need for inspiration arises. Most recently satisfied in L’Appartamento Napoli, I was given the opportunity to roam the Bay of Naples, photographing and illustrating scenes from Procida to Positano.