my story

I am a retired high school principal who has been an avid sport fisherman for over thirty years with a keen interest in all things nautical. During my tenure as a high school administrator, I supported the Arts seeing the difference they made in the development of students both academically and culturally.  My daughter is a practicing artist in South Florida and my wife is an art major.  With artists surrounding me, I decided to explore my artistic talent.

     I am a self-taught artist.  Drawing on college art classes and on-going instruction from my wife and daughter, I have developed unique techniques in creating traditional woodcut prints.

      Depicting different species of fish and other sea life comes from my love of the sea and fishing.  Through my process, I accurately draw the images to scale and then depart with design using the unique qualities of the wood paying particular attention to the grain.  I use wood carving tools, gouges, and primarily a razor blade to cut the soft wood blocks. Paper choice is an important step in achieving the image I am seeking. Heavier weight paper yields a richer embossed print while lighter weight paper produces a sharper more detailed image. After cutting, the block is inked and pressed using a barren, a hand held press, followed by a rounded rubbing tool to add detail. Multiple blocks are used to add more than one color to the images. I build my own frames as well which I feel enhances the artwork.

     I hope viewing the prints will produce as much enjoyment as creating them.