Born into a creative family in Toronto. My father was a Big Band orchestra leader, and my mother’s hobby was sketching and painting. Both parents loved collecting art – and travelling. In 1968, my parents moved to Grand Cayman where they lived for about five years.
By 1974, after a few visits, I decided to make Cayman my home. There was not a lot to do in Cayman then, and so I joined every art course going, including classes with Betty Wise, Ed Oliver, and Margaret Barwick. Betty introduced me to water colours, Ed taught me to use the palette knife, and Margaret got me hooked on acrylics for a while.
Ten years ago, after selling my retail shops, I went back to school – this time art school. I attended classes in life drawing and painting for two years in London at City Lit in Covent Garden (since merged with Central St Martin’s School of Art and Design) and assembled a portfolio. My portfolio and I were accepted into City Lit’s Fine Arts program. After another two years, I had completed the program and headed home to Cayman to paint.
The pictures I presented for my student show in London were all abstract with lots of thick layers of paint. For some time now I have painted realistically, in thin glazes, and this method gives me the clarity I want to portray. I held a solo show at the Caribbean Club called ‘Rum in de Coconut’.
I show my work frequently in VAS shows, as well at Art@Governors and my paintings have been purchased by collectors in the UK, Canada, US as well as locally. Recently, I spent three semesters at the John Angel studio in Toronto, a school of realism, taking life drawing classes.
