Although my main interest from childhood through high school was art, after being stymied with my progress as an adult I gave it up and went onto other things, including photography. Photography taught me my artistic vision. I wanted to add to my photography, so I started fusing more than one of my photos in Photoshop, later adding my drawings. I love the ocean so my fusions began with photos of the Pacific Ocean beaches, and I continue to use water of all sorts in my fusions.

Drawing in ink has always been my most natural method of expression. A friend told me about Urban Sketchers, and I discovered that while I was away, drawing had become less of an elite activity and more for everyone to enjoy and benefit from. It rekindled my love of ink, and now I use fountain and dip pens, experiment with different inks, and incorporate watercolor, something that had intimidated me. My aim is to describe my subjects well, but still to play, experiment, and draw the way I want to draw.

With retirement glowing in front of me, I tackled something that had defeated me in college: oil paint. I turned to two of my favorite painters, Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud for inspiration. Using photos I’d taken of land patterns from airplane windows and those I took on a rock plateau outside Santa Cruz, I created sets of abstract paintings of earth’s patterns, trying to achieve a similar color energy that Thiebaud infused in his paintings. Ideas for new patterns and new ways to use colors come from experimenting with the paint itself and using other photos as the basis for subject, pattern, and color exploration.