Graduating from a master’s program in drawing and painting at California State University Long Beach in 1976, I left the US in order to discover what the world held for a young artist. Two years and many destinations later, I landed in Paris with the hopes of studying the great works of art - my desire to soak up the rich resources of history still intact. As fate would have it, the City of Light became my home for the next twenty-four years. Many historically important artists with influence on my work include Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis and Willem De Kooning to name a few. All my time in Paris and other locales both here and abroad allowed me access, first hand, to examples of all of the history of western art. I find that in the process of creating my art today, I still reflect on the experiences of my past and draw on the ideas and concepts found there and aspire to creating something new from it.