I was born in Miami, Florida over 60 years ago. My father was a career United States Air Force
technician and my mother a skillful artist.
While traveling with my family, a full range of geographical environs across the nation and
overseas provided a wide variety of growth experiences. Military bases in Florida, New York,
Illinois, New Mexico and Michigan - including the Bahamas and Japan, were home sites
during my early years.
Returning back to Miami in '65, our family would tour the sites of Southern Florida for the
next decade. After obtaining an Associate in Arts degree from Miami-Dade Community College in
'74 while majoring in art and aerospace, a two-year position as a graphic designer for an
electronic instrument company in Miami provided experience in the art of commercial photography
and page design.
Late in '75, I spent considerable effort in trying to market myself to the major television
networks and record companies as a program director in the filming of entertaining music
projects now known as "music videos". It was my hope that a new medium would be developed
which would use cinema technology to reveal the literature within many popular songs and create
short entertaining movies.
However, the lure of the sea and the climate of the Florida Keys became more important than a
filming career in Los Angeles or New York.
In '76, I acquired a 37' Chesapeake Skipjack sailboat in need of repair and moved to Key Largo
where I began a simple and economical lifestyle living off-shore for 14 years. Because of this
unique lifestyle opportunity, I found the time to perfect my guitar music skills and also pursue
a vocation in the creation of both acrylic driftwood paintings and silk screen printing
illustrations that depict nearby marine scenery.
I sold my driftwood paintings of sailing ships at a nautical gift shop in South Miami and also
painted several seascape murals in homes near the area. Many of the driftwood paintings used
the woodgrain of the knot-hole as the placement of the sun or moon in the scene that gave a
scupltural feel to the artwork.
As an independent artist with time to personally search for a better understanding of Maritime
History and the Natural Sciences, I studied for many hours at several public libraries and book
stores gathering scientific views that would later inspire me to become a writer.
Over a period of twenty years I wrote two research books that exploried the cultural history of
early maritime tribes throughout the Atlantean realm. These books attempt to reveal the
realities behind the legends of both Atlantis and the Fountain of Youth mysteries.
Both books can be found free online at the spiritofatlantis.com and lostfountain.com websites
where I update them when I can.
In the early nineties, I married my wife Cynthia from Bristol England and worked as a
receptionist at the Florida Keys Visitor Center where I learned communication skills in guiding
visitors to the many sights and wonders of the Florida Keys.
While a licensed USCG boat captain working with the family watersports business, the new
millennium brought the opportunity to guide visitors around upper Florida Bay using a small
power boat and teach marine science.
In 2006 my wife was seriously injured in an accident when a truck hit her car and caused a
change in our lives that made us aware how fragle our lives can be.
We decided to move in late 2006 from subtropical Florida to the mountain country of Western
North Carolina because of the cooler temperatures and the feeling of being alive in heaven.
Paradise was nice -- but heaven is where we all want to be.
Over the years, we have experience many scenic sites throughout England, Western Europe and
the Caribbean. We have also collected colorful images from places in the western United States
and from the mountains of Western North Carolina where we now live.
In September 2012, I discovered the POD website of Fine Art America where I now have on
display over fourteen-hundred images of my nature photographs and artwork paintings
available for sale.