SUMMER TRACES Painting

b. 1945, New York City As a child, I was fascinated by the E.H. Shepard's drawings in AA Milnes' Pooh books, and by Beatrix Potter's watercolor illustrations. I was encouraged in my artistic efforts when I was quite young by my immediate family and my artist uncle, Fred Maine, who worked as an illustrator in an office in the Empire State Building. My first junior high school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened my eyes to what painting could be. Throughout high school I worked with artist and teacher Herold Witherspoon, to whom I am forever grateful. He told me I was an artist, and guided me into experimentation and exploration. I spent every study hall in his art classroom. The museums of New York were an easy train ride away, and I went often, spending hours educating myself in identifying individual artists and studying their paintings. This frequent exposure to original works, particularly of the New York School, and by the cubists and fauvists, made a huge impact on my aesthetic development.After high school, I traveled extensively. I cannot overstate how profoundly these journeys shaped my thinking as a person and an artist, giving me the perspective of cultural and geographical diversity. I married twice and raised an amazing creative daughter, Georgiana, and these experiences also enriched my life personally and artistically. I lived in Colorado for 30 years. While in Colorado, I painted large watercolors of the desert landscapes of New Mexico and Arizona. My work was represented by local galleries, and galleries in Durango and Santa Fe. I received my BFA in painting (Phi Beta Kappa) at CU Boulder, where I studied with color-field artist Gene Matthews, and was influenced by George Woodman's seminars on art theory.Following a decade of designing and building passive solar homes in Colorado, I became enchanted by the Mojave Desert and in 2006 I moved to Joshua Tree. I renovated an old homestead cabin and added a passive solar studio, and I now paint full-time. Until the beginning of 2008, I was primarily interested in the desert landscape, compelled by the austere beauty around me. Since then I have been exploring large non-objective work. In the Joshua Tree area I have had four solo shows and been part of many group shows, and I open my studio to visitors every year in October as part of the Cultural Arts Council Art Tours. I am currently represented by Colin Fisher Studios in Palm Springs, California.