Self development is perhaps the longest running interest in my life. I believe it all started in my twenties when I read How to Win Friends and Influence People. I remember the light bulb going on, “Oh, I can change myself.” The prospect of changing my life course from the inside out excited me. I wondered how far I could go and what I might become. I devoured self-help books after that.

I have experienced setbacks, pitfalls and disillusions. I discovered change is not so straight forward as I first thought and that there are many ways to delude one self into thinking advances are being made when they are not. But, on balance, I am encouraged. I continue to be well rewarded for my modest effort.

I was raised with vague Christian sentiments. I had some mystical experiences of God while attending vacation Bible school as an early teen. I had a traumatic experience when I was 16 that caused me to investigate Christianity more seriously. That pursuit eventually led me to become a spirit-filled, born-again Christian. I lost my belief in God while attending college and then embraced atheism. I think it may have been the act of reading Autobiography of a Yogi that caused me to believe in God again – this time I was able to entertain a much more expansive concept of God.

I gradually developed a sense that there is something larger going on in this life than what meets the senses. This caused me to investigate energy work and the esoteric. I have been greatly affected by the philosophy of Don Juan Matus as reported by Carlos Castaneda. I have also greatly benefited from the teachings of Susan Cerf, Leonard Orr, Chriss Lemmon, Ram Dass and Marshall Rosenberg.

I currently pursue development by way of Network Spinal Analysis, Qigong, yoga, meditation, rebirthing and ecstatic dance.

Education:
School of Conscious Hearts
Minister, Order of the Ascended Rose
Rebirther, Rebirthing Breathwork International
MogaDao Institute
Hamsa Yoga
Ananda 

Personal Notes:
I retired from a career in sales and marketing for a small manufacturing company the end of 2011. I spent the next year traveling. In early 2013 I walked the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Since then I have focused my efforts on creative work. For the last twenty years I have lived in an old farmhouse on the west side of Portland, Oregon. I have completed two marathons.

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My wild scions, take wing!
Engage and captivate; haunt the mind’s eye, strike the hearts,
Nest in high places.

Art is mysterious. I don’t mean the decorative thing; where an interior designer picks color coordinated wall hangings and furniture. I mean what happens sometimes to the client of the interior designer; when one of these randomly collected articles pops out of the scheme, inexplicably connects with something meaningful inside that person, brings up emotions and a sense of expansion.

Sometimes the viewer understands the art piece the same as I do, but more often the viewer brings their own meaning to the art piece. In either case, that connection between the art piece and the observer is transcendent. The seed of transcendence is what I aim for in everything I create. I get there with a lot of revisions. I usually feel done when I step back and say to myself, “I can think of no way in which to improve this further.” I sense there is a strange little plateau upon which an idea achieves clarity and aliveness just before it becomes overworked.

As a painter, I am an experimentalist. I move forward with an intention, but I allow lots of room for the medium to speak to me and pull me in unintended directions. It has been awhile since I painted. But I have been gathering ideas for new series of work. When I take to the canvas again, I will bring to it more meaning than I could conceive of when I was younger.

As a photographer, I have discovered that everything has a personality, and a good photograph is one that manages to capture that inherent personality. Creating a final image is just as big a job as taking a good photo. I enjoy starting from scratch every time I make a print, bringing to my subject all the skills I have honed since the last time I brought the image to life. My next step will be to explore abstraction as a way in which to add meaning and intrigue to my subjects.

As a writer, I have honed my skills in business; creating all the sales and marketing materials for two different businesses. I have directed the creation of and provided content for three websites and four trade show displays. I have also written a wide variety of back office materials including legalese, instruction manuals, contracts, proposals, reports and presentations.

Exhibits
7/06 Photos, Koffee Krazy, Portland, Oregon
10/05 Photos of India, Café Vivace, Portland, Oregon
8/04 B&W Abstract Farm Equipment Photos, P/M Industries, Beaverton, Oregon
6/04 B&W Abstract Photos, WSU, Vancouver, Washington
11/03 Western Landscape Photos, Wind Horse Café, Milwaukie, Oregon
9/03 Protest Photos, Cafe Nola, Portland, Oregon
6/90-8/92 Watercolors, NW by NW Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon
8/13/90 Watercolors, Soiree d’Art, Alber’s Mill, Portland, Oregon
7/90 Watercolors, Mayor’s Office, City of Beaverton, Oregon, via Beaverton Arts Commission
3,4/90 Watercolors, Thayer’s Office Supply, Beaverton, Oregon, via Beaverton Arts Commission
1/90 Watercolors, Pine Street Chiropractic, Portland, Oregon
12/89 Watercolors, Morrison Street Gallery, Portland, Oregon
8/89 Watercolors Private showing by the request of Michael Keeline, Portland, Oregon
6,7/89 Watercolors, Saturday Market, Portland, Oregon

Skills:
Art: watercolors, marbling, paper making, photography
Computer: Photoshop, Freehand, Illustrator, Pagemaker, MS Office Suite, ACT
Marketing: promotional literature, trade show displays, website development, product development
Business: project management, organization, computer administration, purchasing, costing, hiring

Education
B.S. Journalism (advertising, photojournalism), University of Oregon, 1984
Graphic Design, Lane Community College, Eugene, 1984
Basic Media and Design Skills, Oregon State University, 1981

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Extraordinary ideas may spring from entertaining bizarre perceptions. 10.24.13

If you cannot do what you are doing with joy, ease and a sense of adventure – get out of there! Your negative, stress-filled thoughts and actions do no good. Work on your attitude and then try it again. 5.23.10

Paul leapt from star to star until he needed no further steps to fly. 3.10.10

What if the whole world existed just to prick you? What if the whole world existed just to love you, but you were too bedeviled by pricks to notice? 2.10.10

We are living in checkmate. We are On The Beach. The game is over, we just don’t know it yet. Will they spend years calculating just exactly when we crossed the point of no return, or will anyone care about that by then? 2.5.09

This week has so many days in it! 1.17.07

It is harder for a pretty girl to develop her personality than it it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. 9/16/06

I feel like things are going my way most of the time. I wonder if that is because things really are going my way, or it is just the way I look at things. 12/25/05

Sometimes, living in greater connection entails disconnection. 8/14/04

Half the fun of getting drunk is driving fast. 7/25/04

I buy a lottery ticket and dream of the mountains I will give away.
But on the day-to-day, my material desires swell three times the size of my wallet with every little bump in income. 6/30/04

People are like icebergs:nine tenths is hiding below the surface. 9/18/02

The problem with growing up is that mommy isn’t around any more to tell you when you have had enough. 9/01

Before I met her I never bothered to answer the telephone. Now I carry it around with me. 8/01

Sometimes passion is patience. 7/01

My friends improve me.

Those whom I love, I tease.

We have two chief duties in life: to be polite and to entertain.
Pity we must so often dispense with one in order to achieve the other.

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