In the late 90's, I made the decision to quit my very good job in the Silicon Valley and move to New York. I think this came as a surprise to my colleagues, my family, and I think I had even I surprised myself with this decision... but I did it anyways.

I never made it to New York... I made it to Philadelphia.  My good friend Patrick told me that he had this friend named Anita and that we were totally going to hit it off because we were both artists working with metal.  Naturally, with all the hype about her to me and me to her, we both were worried that we'd meet and not get along... but that didn't happen.

We went on to get a studio space together and an apartment together and fast forward to 2000 when I relocated back to the Bay Area for a job and while I don't remember the conversation, I somehow managed to convince Anita to move to the Bay Area with me. Driving across country, we played the "name game" using the names of famous artists. With both of us having degrees in Fine Art, the game lasted for hours.

Anita later settled in Santa Rosa and while it's a trek, we see each other from time to time and have even taking a neon class together at The Crucible.

Well... Anita is now married to a great guy named Marc and yesterday I attended her baby shower.  The past few weeks I've been thinking about a gift and looking at her gift registry, but nothing felt right.  While I haven't spent a lot of time with her husband Marc, I know that cycling is a very big part of his life having previously been a professional cyclist. So in thinking about what for the baby for someone creative and someone into cycling, I thought what better way to celebrate this little baby (who already has a name) than a gift that represents both his amazing parents!  It was a hit. Yay!

There is nothing more thrilling than seeing your work installed in a gallery. Well... I suppose seeing your work installed in a museum would be more thrilling but I've yet to experience that joy.   When you make art (and in fair quantities), you are often faced with the logistical challenge of where to store your art as you inevitably run out of space in your home.  This is a challenge and this is my challenge.  I'm lucky to have a good size office at work and the luxury of being able to live with my artwork both at home and at work.  At the present time, an entire wall in my office is blank because these two large paintings are on display. When I look at that blank wall in my office, in my mind I think of these pictures and am reminded that my work is being viewed by new people. Gosh I love this feeling.