As with most artists, I have been drawing and making things since I was little. My love of the natural world developed as I roamed the fields and forests around my childhood home. These days I roam the Rocky Mountains and deserts of the West.

  Most of these images are a direct result of my relationship with the landscape of Larimer County, Colorado. They have been created from photographs I have taken on my many hikes over time in the Poudre Canyon.

 The images are not strictly realistic, but convey my feelings for the visual rhythms and spaces that I encounter as I hike.

 Wood is part of the landscape and as a woodworker it is natural for me to use it in my art.

 The process of making a woodcut is, by nature, slow. It involves many steps but each one tunes my awareness graphically.

  Woodcuts have been done since the time of the ancients. A flat block of wood is  carved, removing all material except the desired image. With the invention of the printing press by Johannnes Gutenberg (c1400-1468) the literature of the world began to be available to more and more people and woodcuts were used to illustrate the texts being printed. After the block is carved, ink is applied and a piece of paper is then pressed onto the block to transfer the mirror image.

.  I choose to hand color my prints with watercolor and gouache. I think it adds to the handcrafted look of the piece.

  Watercolor painting is a very old medium. It can be traced back perhaps to the cave paintings of paleolithic Europe. It has been used to illustrate manuscripts since at least ancient Egyptian times. In the European middle ages manuscripts were illuminated with watercolor and woodblock prints were hand tinted for use with early printed books.

  Artists since the Renaissance have used watercolors for sketches and color studies. Watercolor was also employed to create finished works of fine art.

  Botanical and wildlife artists have used watercolor to fine effect in their depictions of the natural world. The western world was seen for the first time in Europe through the medium of watercolor.

 I the 19th and 20th centuries, watercolor has been used to create many beautiful works that are alive with brilliant color and spontaneous energy.

  The watercolors I am showing here are based on sketches done in a style of free association conceived as they were drawn. Very little is changed from the original drawing. As Paul Klee would have said “I took the line out for a walk”.

  Acrylic paint is a substance containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints are water soluble, but become resistant to water when dry.

   A finished acrylic painting can have a look similar to watercolor or oils depending on how much water, gel,or paste is added in the process of painting. Even though they can resemble other media, acrylic paintings have unique characteristics not attainable with other media.

  The acrylic paintings I am showing here are pure flights of my imagination.

“Red River” owes its inspiration to the likes of Rousseau and Disney.

”Home” depicts a very unlikely association of characters who have apparently decided to coexist peacefully.

“Night Ride Home” is another example of a friendly coexistence.

The Vector drawings shown here were created  to illustrate the textbook “Basic Veterinary Immunology” published by The University Press in Boulder, Co. Copyright University Press.

   The text for the book was created by Gerry Callahan, Colorado State University and by Robin and Amy Yates, University of Calgary.

Oil painting is an old technique which involves mixing pigment with a slow drying oil. The most commonly used is linseed oil, but other oils are also used such as hemp, poppy seed, walnut, sunflower, safflower, and soybean oils.

   Slow drying time is an advantage when mixing and blending colors. Some oils like safflower and poppy seed are paler than others and allow for more vibrant whites and colors.

   All the paintings in this group involve the use of oil paint.

  “ They went that way” is a pure oil painting on prepared 100% rag paper.

  “Magic Window” is an oil painting on board that has the drawing burned into the wood panel.

  “Moonscape” is a work in which the drawing is etched into a thin layer of wet grout. When the grout is fully cured, black gesso is applied and the work is finished with oil paint.  

“The Mine” is also a work in which the drawing is etched into a thin layer of wet grout. When the grout is fully cured, black gesso is applied and the work is finished with oil paint.

"Painter" is also a work done in oil paint on board over a drawing burned into the wood.

"Giving Tree" is also a work done in oil on board over a drawing burned into the wood.

"Making Friends" is also a work done in oil on board over a drawing burned into the wood.

"Safe Harbor" is also a work done in oil on board over a drawing burned into the wood.

 Sometime around 1500 AD a large deposit of graphite was discovered in England. At first it was not used for making pencils but was used as a release agent in the moulds for making cannonballs.

  Graphite had to be smuggled out for the manufacture of pencils. Graphite sticks were initially wrapped in string or sheepskin for stability. The news of this new mark maker spread far and wide, attracting the attention of artists all over the known world.

  Around 1560, an Italian couple named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti made what are thought to be the first wood encased pencils. They hollowed out a stick of juniper wood and inserted a stick of graphite. Shortly thereafter, the technique of joining two halves of wood together with glue with a stick of graphite inserted was developed. This is essentially the same method still in use today.

  The pencil drawings shown here were created from photos taken on hikes in the mountains west of Ft. Collins,Colorado. Some of these were later translated into woodcuts.

And then I added more drawings and will continue to do so.