All 24 paintings are oil on Masonite, except 2 oil on press-board.. They have all been professionally framed and mounted in good condition, oldest being 23 years old.

I understand very well that the work needs to stand alone and I, as the painter, both past and future, is of little importance. Anyone interested in the paintings can read my rather long story. In this case, work and story belong together. I was born in Oakland in 1951 and I grow up in the east bay area, California.

1973:

At the age of 22, I was fortunate for the experience of a year backpacking Europe, visiting 14 Countries (4 months in Spain)How much influence the Vatican, Prado and Louvre had on me can better be said by my paintings. This is what inspired me to be an artist. Every work I've ever attempted has the classical European oil painting about it.

1976:

I bought my first canvas + oils and started painting local landscapes. Soon followed thoughts of painting in Europe. A year of saving money, making preparations for my second adventure, this time with paintings and brushes.

September 1977:

At the age of 26, I flow out of San Francisco, within a week checked into pension Can Olivar, in Deià, Mallorca, little did I know I landed myself in the middle of a creative hornets nest! Robert Graves was in his last year of independence, he was most responsible for the intellectuals and the full range of writers, painters and musicians, some of them influential, that were always coming and going, out of Deià. There was a good atmosphere of achievement, everyone felt a need to create something. I was too inexperienced for any grand work of art, but I got a lot of inspiration; and my first sales. It was Mati Klarwein's influence that moved me out of landscapes and into the surreal. With Mati, I found my ideal, I wanted to live and paint like him.

October 1979:

Back in California, I started working in construction and painting houses, for 2 years. The second year saving for another trip to Deià. Of the 8 paintings that I was able to complete, all were in wood (press-board) and all square, like Mati,'s. Painting objectives as real as possible but not afraid to step out with imagination.

September 1981:

Returned for my second two years stay in Deià and Sóller, with an energy I've never had since, I was accused of working too hard. The first winter group of 23 trees was the most successful. All sold within a year, people were asking for more.

May 1982:

Ayuntamiento de Deià
Sold 11-23

September 1982:

Hotel Es Molí, Deià
Sold 5-12

July 1983:

La Caixa, Sóller
Sold 7-24

September 1983:

Tina's Gallery Max, Deià
Sold 8-15

I sold 33 of 38 paintings, in 4 exhibitions; 4 went with me to California. With all this came a feeling of success, but also the possibility to live as an artist in Mallorca. The important question for me was: can I bring a European oil painting into California porter's society and have a successful exhibition? I was determined to try. I left Mallorca with the feeling of not seeing it again for a long time, if ever.

October 1983:

As always in my arrival in California, starts the house painting business: paid in cash, complete with pick up, ladders and airless sprayer. I needed to find an art community like Deià in California. I found it in Sebastopol, population 5.000, in the wine country of Sonoma Co. With all it takes for rent, transport and food, somehow I always found 3 or 4 months a year only to paint pictures.

My attitude this period was a good one. Don't do anything because it will sell, do it because it means something to me. Do whatever I wanted, but do it well, and have fun. I made the change from wood to Masonite, started protection photographing wood and plastic models, and using glazing techniques of Maxfield Porrish, who used white “yeso” to create light. Painting oils, like a water color, then give the painting lots of light and it can turn to magic.

I joined an art group (drawing models once a week) and found some good people into art, but the few galleries that existed, didn't want to talk or look at the paintings. At the age of 38, with no serious relationships or responsibilities, do I continue or does Europe offer a better life. After 5 years completing 17 paintings, I decided for Mallorca. Should I fail as an artist, there's still time to come back to the US and start a new life. Another year of preparations.

April 1990:

There was an exhibition in Gallery Max the night of my arrival in Deià. I was so glad to see the same faces again after 6 years! The world moves so fast and nothing changed here at all.

I rented a room,. prepared my Masonite, bought a projector and painted landscapes. In October, with only 4.000 pesetas and a key of a house in Fornalutx, completing 6 paintings for an exhibition at hotel “La Residencia”, Deià.

I was out of money a month before exhibition time, in the worst physical condition of my life. Van Gogh No! Never again that situation.
Of the 6 paintings shown, I sold 4. Two commissions followed.
In the spring of 1991 I sold my first big oil painting from Fornalutx to the Residencia for 300.000 pesetas. It was stolen from the hotel within 2 years.

In November 1992, I had another exhibition at the Residencia, shared with a friend in ceramics. Of the 5 paintings shown, I sold nothing! Then, I new I had a lot of work ahead of me. Never again do I share an exhibition with someone else, no more hotels, banks or city halls. I want to exhibit in a real gallery, with good space and light.

I started painting shutters and interiors in Fornalutx. When I visited my family in California , every 2 years, I'd bring back as many dollars as I could. Like the Sonoma Co. period, the economic independence helped me to create superior oil paintings.

And so, the years passed, always with a painting in progress, but earning money when local work was available. With my basic colors refrigerated, I could go off to California and return 2 months later and take up the same painting. I enjoyed making 3 big paintings, largest than 120x120cm, but the progress of painting moved even more detailed and longer o complete.

The most recent example of my direction is the painting (Fornalutx). 35% of composition imaginary based on fact, and six different slide protections.
Using 26 expensive 4-0 brushes, taking an estimated 2500 to 3000 hours of painting, and two and a half years from start to finish. Even taking into account the earning of money for living and two trips to California, while it was being made. What a sacrifice! It's the work of a much over emphasized, if not fanatic insistence on detail.

2014:

Bought a house in Biniaraix, one kilometer from the "Landed" painting. I've a beautiful view of the "Barranc", the most espectacular landscape in Majorca.