I've always had an interest in animals and wildlife since childhood. I spent all my free time outdoors watching birds, rabbits, snakes and just about everything. I carried this over into artwork during my high school years were I became a self-taught artist. I found myself spending endless hours painting highly detailed portraits and illustrations of animals and birds. At age 14, I became interested in falconry and became a falconer at age 16. This interest was reflected in my paintings as most were of birds of prey. Birds of prey fascinate me with there grace, agility and speed. In 1979, I took first place in a local art contest with a watercolor painting of a Red-tailed Hawk.
That award inspired me to continue painting and eventually that lead into photography. Over the years, I have painted and photographed a variety of different animals, but my passion still lies with birds. I found that with watercolors I was able to create highly detailed, almost life-like qualities in my paintings. I'm a realistic painter and find great satisfaction painting highly detailed images that sometimes are hard to tell if they are paintings or photographs? Unlike most traditional watercolorists, who allow the colors to bleed and remain undefined, I find I like to use a multi-layer technique more often associated with oils or acrylics. I use the smallest brushes possible to achieve that life-like quality. Because I favor this multi-layering technique, it takes hours and hours of fine detailing to get each painting the way I like it. Over the years, I found that I like to make the subject more predominate. This is why most of my paintings and photographs are close-ups, detailing the subject with less emphasis on the background. Some artists focus so much on the surrounding background the subject of the painting is in essence lost! Backgrounds are important, but not at the cost of losing interest in the subject. Only when the backgrounds can add focus or substance to the subject should they be used in wildlife paintings.
The last 2 years, I have spent more time becoming involved with animal organizations and rescue centers. Additionally, pet portraits have become a new venue for me. Everyone loves their pets and having a quality portrait of that pet is as important to some people as there own children. In addition, conservation and protection of our wildlife resources is becoming increasingly important as more animals become threatened or endangered. Being able to help various organizations promote wildlife, or saving lost or injured animals is important to me.
Last year, I was fortunate enough to be able to dedicate myself to my artwork and photography full time. In 2005, I moved from Southern California to Montrose, Colorado and started Pace Portraits. The move has been a great benefit to me as I truly enjoy the quality of my life and am now able to focus on what I love to do, paint and photograph natures wonderful beauty.
