When asked why I teach my oil & cold wax abstract painting workshops I have a short answer and a somewhat longer answer.  The short answer is quite honestly that I teach to learn.  The somewhat longer answer follows-

The image above is my “first” painting.  The first executed deliberately; my first “official” creative response to the world in which we live.  It is a small (8” x 10”) oil painting of an image I found in a magazine.  It is painted on a canvas covered cardboard which cost $0.25.  The year was 1960, I was twelve, and the universe was beginning to speak to me.  What I was hearing was A – R – T.  At first just a whisper, it grew in volume and authority when I met my high school (1962 – 1966) art teacher Alice Van Dam and the music teacher Don Weber.  Now I heard A-R-T-I-S-T  and  T-E-A-C-H-E-R.  That was my first calling.

The next call I got was from Uncle Sam and I found myself in Vietnam serving in the US Army.  The year was 1969. It changed the trajectory of my life in ways none of us anticipated.  That year unleashed a tsunami of emotions:  guilt, fear, despair, disillusionment, apathy, vulnerability, hopelessness and confusion.  I spent the next decade caught up in its surging currents, its thunderous white water and silent undertows drowning out those chants of A-R-T-I-S-T  &  T-E-A-C-H-E-R.   During this time (1970-1980) I did practice my art.  I now understand (hindsight) that my art was my self-imposed therapy.  I survived that decade but unfortunately, when the corporate life began the art stopped.   

By 2000 I was hearing the voices again – stronger and more urgent than ever – after all I was no longer 21!  I retired from the corporate world in 2007 with a promise to myself to return to my art.  I just wasn’t sure how or if the world would be receptive.  In 2010 I was introduced to oil and cold wax medium.  I instantly recognized my direction and understood that it also gave me a path to teaching.  So I am now a full-time professional artist and workshop instructor. 

Drawing upon my life experiences and continuous learning I’ve forged my artistic voice in abstract painting.  Now I deliver both my process and my approach in achieving authentic abstract art to workshop artists around the world, from my Minneapolis studio to Paris, France and many places in between.  I truly love sharing my Process, Purpose & Passion approach with other artists and hope that you will join me.  Together we will explore authentic abstract painting, we will share and learn and have FUN doing it!