Inside the Tropics Painting

Life was a visual art growing up in the Visayan Islands of the Philippines. Helping my family survive led to work in the visual and performing arts along with costume design, makeup artistry, and stage performance. As a child I spent months at a time out in the "provinces" (countryside) living with my grandparents on the island of Bohol, away from a hectic life of poverty and insecurity. The quiet beauty from sea to shore and hills to forest left indelible memories that continue to bring back images of nature I explore on canvas today. Cartoon shows during my childhood were filled with colorful characters on the tv screen and nurtured a fascination with the stories and fantasies. Nowadays, living along the Gulf coast of Florida, I use those scenes and visions of the sub tropical environment here to explore nature and our place in it on my canvases with an awareness of meaning not understood when younger. Just feeling a moment or viewing an image has progressed to an appreciation for their meanings as I express those ideas in my painting. Curiosity and concentration along with exploring artistic techniques provide a pathway from the birth of an idea to its completion on canvas. Sometimes, twists and turns steer the work in directions unimagined at the start as new elements are introduced along the way. That evolution is a wonderful part of the process in creating a final work and the reward for me once finished will always be in the eyes and minds of the viewer.