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About the artist
"So, tell me about yourself," people ask. Okay, not very many people ask, but sometimes they do and if you're reading this you must have some interest. If you get bored you can always hit the "back" button. I have always been an artist, holding such jobs as toy designer, illustrator, graphic designer, sign maker, T-shirt artist, and store display designer. I have also worked as a semi-pro costume designer, making extra cash winning costume contests and working at Renaissance festivals. I have also done quite a bit of model building and I have won my share of model contests too. I've been intrigued by miniatures all my life. As a kid, my hero was Ray Harryhausen, the king of stop-motion movie monsters, and I was fascinated when the original Star Wars came out. I guess it was natural that I would turn to three dimensional works. I started out sculpting my own monsters and building spaceships, then branched out to include landscape painting as I spent more and more time in the woods rather than in the theater. I create art based on things I love to do. I am compelled to create, and have experimented with nearly every medium and subject matter there is. I am most attracted to three dimensional work, and have made my living as a sculptor since 1993. I have always loved the outdoors. I grew up camping with my family throughout the southwest. As a kid I practically lived on my bicycle. I have hiked and backpacked extensively all over the western US and I have camped in 48 states. More recently I travelled to Hawaii and New Zealand for cycling, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling and other fun stuff. I have also sold backpacking, mountaineering, climbing and other outdoor gear, and I've even taught backpacking classes. Cycling, climbing, scuba diving, kayaking, running, Kung Fu, and Tae Kwon Do are other sports I've enjoyed to one degree or another. |
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Not happy with my latest work, I decide to end it all. Actually, this is me bungee jumping in New Zealand at the Kawaru River Bridge, the site of the very first bungee jump! This is just the sort of thing I love, it's easy to get inspired to sculpt or paint after a good jolt of adrenaline. |
| Artist's Statement It is the interaction of the figure with the landscape that intrigues me. The relationship of climber to rock or diver to sea is what I am trying to convey, a relationship that could be lost with either a figural piece with no background or a landscape with no figure. I feel the setting is as important as the figure itself, I always like to include a little bit of the background to set the stage for each activity. I strive to convey the feeling of a sport. I've spent a lot of time hiking, swimming, and cycling, and to me the environment is an integral part of the experience. I try to put the viewer in the position of the figure in my piece, that's why you'll see a lot of back views as if you are looking over the person's shoulder, seeing things from their point of view. I have always been drawn to shape and texture. I like irregular, organic shapes since these are the shapes of nature, and I avoid straight lines since these almost never appear naturally. The feel of the rock under my hands or the crunch of the trail as I walk through the woods, these small things bring to mind the whole outdoor experience. My goal is to create a piece that evokes a much bigger scene in the mind of the viewer. |
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At left is one of my watercolor paintings. For many years I took one to two months off each year to travel the country and paint. I would hike, backpack, swim, and climb, and I would always camp so I was close to fun outdoor stuff. People would be surprised to hear that I have travelled to all the lower 48 states as well as parts of Canada and Mexico but I have never been to Disneyland, or visited the Statue of Liberty, or seen many of the famous "tourist attractions" that people associate with any given area. I'm not much of a city person, I would rather live in the country, work from my studio, make visits to the post office to mail my art to my loving buyers, and then go do fun outdoor stuff. |
I still enjoy painting, though I spend most of my time these days making three dimensional pieces. I have found my strengths are more in shape and texture rather than color and I am intrigued by silhouettes and strong outlined shapes. I feel a cast piece with weight and volume often has more power that a flat, two-dimensional painting. I love the feel of clay and joy of pulling a perfect casting from the mold. It's more tactile than painting I guess. Heck, I enjoy all forms of creativity but there's only so many hours in the day. |
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I love the water! At left is me geared up for my PADI Advanced Open Water Diver test. At right, and much more recent, is me in the warm, clear waters off the Big Island of Hawaii. Here I swam with the giant green sea turtles, a truly amazing experience. I HAD to include a turtle in my scuba diver piece! |  |
I grew up swimming in the many public pools, rivers, and lakes in and around Austin, Texas. I really hated the scorching Texas summers but I do miss those warm waters. Later I joined the Navy and trained as a Rescue Swimmer, though the service was not a good choice for a misfit like me. |
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Shown above is a sampling of the original one-sixth scale designs created by myself and my wife Gretchen. From 1993 until 2001 we ran a toy company called Tripwire Toys, specializing in, obviously, military miniatures. I would sculpt all the plastic pieces and she would design the cloth items, all based on the real uniforms and gear. Our emphasis was high quality, detailed, and very accurate miniature reproductions of authentic military uniforms, and our work is in thousands of collections around the world. It was during this time that I really refined my sculpting style and perfected my casting techniques. I spent many thousands of hours in my studio. I estimate that I have made nearly 100,000 castings in my life. A LOT of people have my work in one form or another. Our work drew the attention of several major toy companies and I designed many pieces as special commissions for them as well as selling some of my existing designs. I have designed or consulted for Hasbro, 21st Century Toys, Playing Mantis, and others. If you walked down the GI Joe aisle of a toy store between 1998 and 2003 you have probably seen my work. |
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At left is my Darth Vader costume, made in the late 70's. I have been involved in costume design since high school, earning extra money by winning costume contests at Halloween and at sci-fi and comic conventions. I used to love Star Wars until that idiot George Lucas screwed it up with the new trilogy. For a few years I worked as a barbarian at The Texas Renaissance Festival. I learned a lot about sculpting and casting techniques during this time. I sculpted a life-size "super hero" muscle body which was used to make a "muscle suit" of exaggerated comic book hero muscles for myself and a friend. We won a lot of contests with those. |
I wish I had more photos of myself for this page but all I can only seem to find a few. I have many boxes of pictures I have taken on my travels, but I didn't shoot myself (though I have been encouraged to do so by sarcastic friends). Suffice it to say that I have been a lot of places, met a lot of good people, and done a lot of fun things. I hope I can keep doing this for many more years... |
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