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     Beautiful art is good for the soul. It can lift and inspire, it can calm and soothe, it can inform and enlighten. Art improves our quality of life and has been shown to stimulate brain function, reduce stress, and help us focus on things that really matter. Those who take time to appreciate art- in its many forms-understand its remarkable effects. 

     Years ago, a man purchased his first home and, with his limited budget, set to the task of furnishing it. But rather than buying a sofa, a nice kitchen table, or other pieces of furniture, he first bought some modest but inspiring artwork. He knew he would eventually need a place to sit in his new home, but he felt he needed art on his walls even more. 

     When friends and family came to visit, they admired the beautiful paintings that adorned his walls, but they wondered why he did not have much in the way of furniture. He explained that he was working on saving enough money to buy better furniture, but he was afraid that if he did not place a priority on art, he might never be able to justify its purchase. 

     John Hafen, a noted artist from a hundred years ago, explained what this man seemed to know about art. He said, "The influence of art is so powerful in shaping our lives for a higher appreciation of the creations of God that we cannot afford to neglect an acquaintance with it. We should be eager for its companionship...as we are eager for chairs to sit upon or for food to sustain our lives, for it has as important a mission in shaping our charactor and in conducing to our happiness as anything that we term necessities. Life is incomplete without it."

     Indeed, art makes life more meaningful. Whether a painting or a poem, a sculpture or a song, wholesome artistic expression lifts us from the everyday and helps us to see beyond the here and now -- Lloyd D. Newell

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There was an article about me in the May issue of American Art Collector, a leading art magazine. This article on page 172 explains a little bit about me, my artistic orientation and my inspiration for painting. Also, some addtional artwork was shown on page 87. You can also find the article under the main page of my website under the "articles" tab.

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One of my paintings, "The White Rosebush", will be shown in the November issue of American Art Collector on page 27. Earlier this year, two of my paintings, "Capistrano Afternoon" and "The White Rosebush", were shown in the May issue of Southwest Art (pages 98 and 73). My artwork was also shown in the April issue of American Art Review on page 52 ("Pillar Adorned" and "Mission Fountain").
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This last summer I had the privilege to visit the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.  The gardens are located on a lovely little island close to Vancouver, Canada. The amazing thing is that the gardens were created out of a abandoned limestone quarry pit!  Around the turn of the century, Jennie Butchart decided she wanted to try and do something to beautify the unsightly pit near her home, so she had topsoil brought in by horse and carts and created the beautiful Sunken Gardens. This, in my opinion, was the most beautiful part of the whole garden! The Butchart Gardens cover 55 acres, and are well worth a visit. I am doing a series of paintings based on my visit, and these will be shown in my solo show at the Rive Gauche Gallery in December.

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I am having a solo show at the Rive Gauche Art Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ from Dec 16 to Jan 6. The opening reception will be Dec 16 from 7 to 9 pm. It will be my second solo show at the gallery. I will be showing 20 paintings based on  my travels to the Butchart Gardens this summer, and also some work from Mission San Juan Capistrano and other places I have been. I hope to see you all there!

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     At the beginning of my art career, I spent several years in the studio of Kent Wallis, who introduced me to the fundamental principles of impressionism, changing forever the way I see light and color. He introduced me to Monet's impressionist tradition of seeing and painting the influence of light. The impressionists did not use local color and modeling by values (that is, graduation from light to dark), and instead used broken color-pure, prismatic strokes to convey the vibration of light and atmosphere. Seen at a distance, the eye fuses the separate colors together to convey a remarkably accurate vision of the subject. Instead of black and grey, shadows become filled with color and light.
     One of my very favorite artists is Frederick Frieseke, who used  broken color to create glorious garden scenes. He was an American, but lived and worked in Giverny for many years.  The Frieseke garden was the setting for many of his finest works, providing the brilliant color. He said," My one idea is to reproduce flowers in sunlight....to produce the effects of vibration, completing as I go....If you are looking at a mass of flowers in sunlight out of doors you see a sparkle of spots of different colors, then paint them that way."
     Color that expresses the effects of atmosphere can make the most mundane of subjects strikingly beautiful, and turn a garden scene into a feast for the senses. Read More

     The first time I walked into San Juan Capistrano, I was literally speechless! I was awestruck by the power and the beauty of the magnificent pillars everywhere and the  glorious red bougainvillea. Walking down the timeless corridors, the peace and serenity there seem to wash away the troubles of the day. Since that time, missions have become one of my very favorite subjects to paint. I love to depict the sun shining on the flaking white plaster columns, surrounded by the beautiful lush gardens. I would like to impart to the viewer a little measure of the joy and happiness I feel when I am there in that lovely place. Last year, I decided to do a series of mission painting based of my visits to the California missions. I ended up finishing ten, and they were shown in a solo exhibition at the Rive Gauche gallery (Scottsdale, AZ). If you click on the "Artwork" link, you will be able to see the missions I painted last year, plus some other works I have done. Enjoy! Read More