One of my favorite poets, E.E. Cummings, wrote: “It takes courage to grow up and become who we really are.” I am a self-taught artist living in Lyndhurst, Ohio and didn’t formally start painting until my 40’s. As a business owner, working daily in the manufacturing and engineering world where everything is black and white, driven by rules and procedure, the art I create lets me break free from that structured environment and express what is deep inside my heart and soul. With a background in philosophy and literature, I believe that art is like poetry…a distilled language that is 100 proof pure, wasting no words or feelings. Influenced by artists such as Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Rothko, Hemingway and Joyce, I dive into the abyss of uncertainty and come out a new person. Using rich, vivid colors, I enjoy creating landscapes full of emotion and energy finding myself to always be in a state of discovery both as a creator and human. It brings me great joy when one of the pieces I create, whether it be a drawing or painting, hangs inside a collector’s home. Knowing that my creative energy shares the same space and world as theirs is quite humbling. I am here as part of the process, a part of the creative universe. I am a small part but a part nonetheless.