As long as I can remember, I’ve had an urge — perhaps even an obsession — with working with my hands and creating new things. Professionally, I’ve been a carpenter and a computer draftsman; jobs that required an eye for detail and an ability to see the finished product. I grew up sharing a model railroad with my father. My passion was the scenery — the buildings, the foliage, and the terrain. I wanted to recreate the entire world in miniature. I spent countless hours over the years making realistic miniatures, enjoying the tedium and exactness it required. Many years down the road, I took my father on a cross-country train ride. The grandeur of the scenery inspired me to create backdrops for our models. It was during this trip that I found my love of painting. I created several murals of the scenery from the North Dakota prairies to the tree-covered mountains of Glacier National Park, then on to the wheat fields of eastern Washington. I was hooked. Since then, I’ve had a need to put paint on a canvas. I try to recreate what I see — capturing both the scene and the emotion that goes with it.