My Life On the Water

It should be no surprise that my art tends to focus around maritime and coastal subjects(like pirates).  I have spent most of my life on or around the water.

Star Sailing in Japan; 1957 vintage

I learned to sail and pull an oar at seven years old, crewing in STAR and SNIPE and lifeboat races for my father.  Since then I have sailed on and skippered boats from fourteen to 100 feet; racing and cruise, power and sail.  I am one of the founding members of the “RESOLUTE SAILING FOUNDATION,” a non-profit organization that owns, operates and maintains a 44 foot, USCG passenger certified wooden yawl for the purpose of training youth in sail and maritime skills. I have assisted in building two wood/fiberglass powerboats and one steel sailing yacht.  As a young naval officer, I was the deck officer one of the largest US Navy ocean-going salvage tugs. (That part of my career included certification as a deep-sea diver and Navy salvage officer. In 1977, I performed one of the deepest working air dives authorized by the Navy that year; 210 feet.)  I piloted my ship into some of the busiest harbors on the Pacific Rim including Subic Bay, Philippines; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Tokyo Harbor; San Francisco Bay and the Puget Sound.  I have seen the Southern Cross laying on the horizon over a calm sea at midnight in the South Pacific.  Indeed, like many sailors before me, I have sailed some of the same seas as Captain Cook and the early Polynesians.

I look forward to continued exploration of a favorite subject in my art.