Newsletters
November 2025
Happy November,
Quick update then right into the meat of it. November was primarily filled with travel. First was Mexico to teach a wildland fire chainsaw course for a few weeks, then to weekend and holiday trips to visit families. I was able to squeeze together a new idea and a sketch for my next project but with my 7 sporadic days available this month, I was not able to put paint on canvas this month. But since I am a talker, I still have plenty to tell you!
I wanted to take photographs of all the work I’ve been proud of throughout the years and organize the photos chronologically. The earliest ones were from watching an afternoon drawing program on PBS followed by Bob Ross. Then there came the themes, but now we call them collections. For a while I was obsessed with drawing dragons, then the subject matter changed a few years later to hands and cars, then again years later and so on until today. I eventually started painting and this came with its own themes (collections), evolutions and and learning curves. `
This pencil drawing (1) was from a 2000 PBS afternoon broadcast. This was a milestone for me when I was younger. I figured out the basics of shading and drew a whole city!17 years later in 2017 I completed St. Charles Bridge (2), then Lone Tree at the Lake (3) in 2019. In 2023 I finished Passing Time (4), which even though it is part of my Wildland Collection, it is still a landscape. I had put in over 20 years of experimenting, and I was finally feeling the ability to express my ideas. That brings us to Tranquilo (5) from 2024. Landscapes and fire scenes have been a pretty awesome journey, there are some really neat pieces in those collections (Wildland) (Landscapes). Some of my all-time favorites and most proud works are in there.
While I was developing my skills and eye for landscapes I started working away on figures, but definitely not as early. Here is a brief and highlighted summary.
The first photo was a pencil drawing (1) from 2012 and the next (2) starts to add color in 2013. There are many more in-between but these represented milestones again for where I was at. The drawing with the lips is still a stunner and is used for many of my sticker merchandise. Next came my second painting (3) ever in the watercolor work from 2014. This was within my first two hours of painting. I knew I had the ideas but just needed to keep practicing. 9 years later came Graphix (4), Mood (5) in 2024 and Sun-dressed (6) in 2025. In my Figures collection you can see all my paintings and the evolutions. Again, there are so many pieces in that collection that are gorgeous and lead me here.
I was having a daydream, wondering if there was a way to combine the two subjects and have them compliment each other. Was it placing someone on a mountain, on a lake, on the ocean? In the ocean? Was it nature and figures, or was it more figures and nature. Then zang, it hit me. And here we are at Visuals.
I look back at some of my earliest work and think about how proud I was to have accomplished that piece. There are some that are simply timeless to me, and no matter how “old” they may be, will still be gems. I look at them and think, ” dang, I still couldn’t do better today”. Visuals is my newest collection and a breath of fresh air. It feels great to be excited for future projects and to have the creative juices flowing.
There is still so much more I could talk about but for readers sake, I tried to keep it short, simple and to the point. I wanted to share a brief look into my journey as an artist, starting with a box of crayons and Bob Ross afternoons. I genuinely can’t wait for the future. Thanks again for you time and if you care to hear more just reach out!