I am a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Radiology at the University of California, San Diego. During the day I conduct research and teach medical students, at night I’m a painter.

Since I paint after work, I am only rarely able to paint from "real life". I work almost exclusively from one or more digital photographs, which I take myself. I try to compose the finished work as much as I can within the photograph, although often a finished piece will be a composite of several images. I do a very detailed drawing on sketch paper, which I transfer onto my watercolor paper using a light table. I feel that the drawing is the most important part of my painting, and I do not project slides and trace them to facilitate this process. I paint representational watercolors, and I like to paint as large as possible, up to 29" by 40”.

My medical training has given me a very strong foundation both in anatomy and the observation of human behavior, which I feel assists me with portraits and human figure painting. I’ve always been fascinated by images of nature, closely observed. As a kid living in Quebec, I loved the colors of the rocks stuck in the asphalt that emerged every spring as the snow started to melt, and the water ran down the street. Later we moved to the coast and I translated this into rocks around, in and under water. I also paint using a technique known as monoprinting. Using the drawing as a guide I paint directly on plexiglass using the watercolor paints. These images are hand transferred into watercolor paper using a rolling pin. The paint transfers in unusual ways and the colors are bright, vibrant and fun.

Back