Artist statement:
"I was born in Los Angeles, California, moved to Houston at age six, and went to the public schools and then to Rice at age sixteen.

At Rice, in the Architecture Department (there was no art department at that time) James Chillman had the greatest influence on me as to my sense of design, proportion, and the ability to see. I had freehand drawing, design, watercolor and art and architectural history from him.

As a fifth year student I started taking classes at the Museum of Fine Arts, and continued there after finishing at Rice. Having had a very strong academic training, which I wouldn't take anything for, my earliest paintings and drawings (oils and pastels) were very realistic. They were mo...