I grew up on a suburban peninsula jutting into the Atlantic north of Boston, and spent summers in the gentle woods of southern Maine.  From an early age I was always engaged with Nature.  My room was full of aquariums; my shelves littered with seashells and an assortment of other things I had brought in from the outdoors.  Summertime meant spending more days at my parents Maine lakehouse where my father and I explored every floatable pond, stream, and swamp within driving distance, hauling our rowboat over beaver dams and becoming familiar with the scent and pulse of Maine’s wild places.  I became a collector of dragonflies, capturing many of the known species in our region, even creating my own “guidebook” with illustrations done in colored pencil and ink.  And before I could drive, my mother brought me to birding hot-spots where I loved keeping detailed notes on each new species and hand-drawing maps showing their location.  Then sometime during High School I discovered John Fenwick Lansdowne’s books and a new horizon opened before me: bringing Nature to life through art.  

Before attending Cornell University as an entomology major I spent an entire summer living outdoors at age 17, hiking and climbing every mountain over 4,000 feet in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, a trek of nearly 600 miles, summiting 48 peaks.  At Cornell I became not only a student of natural history, but of Art - learning the fundamentals of traditional and modern painting.  My longest outdoor adventure came just after graduating: 9,000 miles over 16 months, hiking, paddling, and bicycling around America; completing the Appalachian Trail, paddling from Alabama to Mexico along the Gulf coast, bicycling across the desert Southwest, and backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail the length of California, Oregon, and Washington.

My artistic journey likewise has been an exploration.  I’ve delved into multiple forms of expression rather than constraining to one “style” or technique.  The love of new challenges (whether in art or travel) has always kept me moving forward.  And through it all, Nature has been my inspiration.  In the beginning it was all about capturing the complex intricacies of the natural world, but as time passed I began focusing more on the emotions Nature elicits.  The effects of sunlight and the constant motion of birds...