After obtaining my BFA in Illustration from Northern Michigan University in 1996 I relocated to Chicago to pursue my artistic endeavors. Here, I began exclusively oil painting and have assembled a body of paintings chronicling scenes of Chicago done primarily in plein air. During these 15 years I’ve alternately painted directly from nature and photographs in my studio. Along the way I have been a freelance illustrator and vintage poster restoration technician, which has influenced my aesthetic sense.

Capturing parts of the city’s landscape during its cultural evolution had been my way of conveying history as a painter. My fascination with landscapes and history has led me to create oil paintings of scenes that have affected us in dramatic ways. Recently I have begun painting aerial views of locations that have interesting historical significance, encapsulating true stories that are hard to imagine and harder to forget – these stories and infamous places still have the power to universally shock people. My latest paintings capture these places and depict them with historically accurate attention to detail. Using various sources I recreate these scenes with as many photographs of every angle of the incident and research the stories, submersing myself in the event, and embellishing minimally. The first series of paintings that I have finished include aerial views of death cult temples, such as Jonestown, Waco, the Manson Family ranch and Heaven’s Gate Cult’s suicide mansion. These locations were beautiful and divine sanctuaries for some who were so passionate about their beliefs that they would sacrifice themselves. My newest body of paintings depicts events with a more local, historically tragic significance, depicting scenes of the darkest hours in Chicago’s history, where the cityscape became the backdrop for tragedy and mortality. These events that irrevocably altered so many lives are important to remember, not only for the people lost and how it affected our culture, but also to remind us that disaster can occur at any time, anywhere.