How long have you been creating?

Almost 40 years. I started drawing as a child, as soon as I could hold a pencil. My father drew and painted for enjoyment, and I caught the love of depiction from him. He never took it very far, and produced very few pieces, but those pieces are still hanging in the homes of the people he gave them to, and are still treasured for the marvelous creations they are.

I really and truly owe everything I am that's artistic to him. I also owe abundant body hair and a really short temper to him, so I guess it's a wash.

What is your media of choice?

Currently, it's oil paint. I have used acrylics with some success, and of course pencils and pens, and played with watercolors... but honestly, there's nothing quite as sensually pleasing as shaping a piece of wood. The year before last, I spent a great deal of time creating very few pieces, some of which I've sold.

What are you motivations for creating?

I can't -not- create. I went several years without any sort of artistic creation, and was a miserable person. These days, if I don't pick up a paintbrush or a pencil for even a day, I get really edgy and snappish.

My family has learned that Mommy's easel is a necessary fixture, no matter how much in the way it is.

Also, in a way, my nudes are a very real expression of how I feel about body image. There's nothing wrong with having a big, juicy butt. Or small boobs. Or a soft belly, that might even sag. The women I paint (that aren't portraits) are my own ideas of what's beautiful and sexually attractive. A lot of them resemble me, in fact. I've done a few self-portraits, and will do more. Fortunately, The Incumbent (my spouse) has the same ideals of feminine beauty that I do. (We both think I'm pretty hot.) Celebrating real women; that's my motivation for painting nudes. I prefer to have real models for these ventures, but they're scarce. Have you got any idea how hard it is to get a plump woman to take off her clothes for you when you've got a camera in your hand? Thus far, I am my most reliable model. I see me naked every day.

What other artists or movements inform your work?

I don't know. Probably Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He was truly an artist. I admire his work above all the old masters, with Gustave Courbet running a close second. I like realism, obviously, but I'm also fond of surrealism. I do admire Dali's ability to render the unthinkable with exquisite detail.

What do you find visually stimulating right now?

Now and always, the human body. I just finished a commission of flowers, but don't tell anyone. Please, especially don't tell anyone that I enjoyed it. I'm also very much enjoying the portrait work I've been doing lately.

.....I've also got a lot of spheres running through my head. I don't know how that's going to pop out.

What's the last book you read?

I just finished 'White Fang' by Jack London.. which I started right after finishing "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving, which immediately followed "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "Rupert of Hentazu" by Anthony Hope. I guess I'm plowing through all our classic literature just now.. occasionally, I break that up with genetics or social anthropology, and sometimes I delight in reading a little Richard Dawkins. He's terribly funny, for a scientific type. Other days, I like to read pure escapist science fiction, like Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. I am a huge fan of Eric Flint and David Drake, and the Belisarius series. Alternate history fiction trips some sort of orgasmic trigger in my brain.

....needless to say, I read a lot.

Tell us about some of your artistic goals for 2006.

In 2006, I'd like to continue to refine my techniques with oil paint, and probably won't give that up any time soon. I plan to begin doing 'fan art' for World of Warcraft, which is the MMORPG that I and 4,999,999 other people are addicted to. The number is not a joke. In fact, it's conservative by about half a million. Quite aside from doing something I love, I think character portraits of players' avatars could be quite lucrative, and I know I can do well at it. I also plan to play with surrealistic abstractions... whatever that means. You'll see, when I get around to finishing one.

What would you like your fellow EBSQ artists and our collectors to know about you and/or your work?

Mostly, I'd like people to be aware that I'm a Work In Progress, never to be 'finished'. Every new project is an experiment, and every thing I do is different than the thing before. The instant something smacks of 'sameness', I'll toss it off like a burnt toast crust. That probably explains why I'm not producing ATC's anymore...trading cards were fun, but once it became more of a practiced process than an experiment, it wasn't fun anymore...the joy was gone, and every new one wasn't 'new' any longer. I like a constant stream of 'new' and 'different' challenges and projects.

Every new canvas is an adventure in experimentation. I might already be pretty good at what I do... whatever that is... but I've not yet begun to tap my full potential. I may never plumb that depth, in fact. I don't have any plans to retire from artistic creation. Ever.