I began painting in 2019 at the age of 52. Prior to that I had only doodled badly on occasion. I started by painting on thrift store paintings in the style of Wayne White (no relation). He would paint block letters into otherwise drab thrift store paintings and voila - genius (see his painting LSD Dog). Mine may not have reached his level but I was learning to paint. I got more and more ambitious and before I knew I was painting entirely over the old painting (I do feel a little bit guilty for that).
That’s when I stumble on the idea of printing my art on t-shirts. I took the first run at this while still living in Southern California. It was COVID and I was selling cars and beginning to fantasize and even belief that I could be a professional artist. I continued painting on thrifted canvases.
I was living at the time in a large house with my ex wife and 4 children. (So French, I would joke.)
In the late summer of 2023, my ex announced that they were pursuing the idea of becoming a flight attendant and I they were accepted things would happen quickly and they would be moving to Seattle. It did happen, they left with 2 of my kids, Liam had married and joined the AirForce whic left Snow and me in this big house in a pretty conservative bedroom communities in inland Soutern Calfiornia. I toyed with the idea buying a house down there and just continuing to sell cars.
The house began to feel absurdly big and the our distaste and boredom with where we lived began to grow.
The next thing I knew Snow was dying my hair green and we were packing up and moving to Portland, Oregon.
We flitted around the city staying in various Airbnb and motels as we tried to figure out what our actual plan was.
We found a rental house that we still live in today. I left my job and Snow and I are out doing markets and events all over Portland.
