I moved to Brooklyn in 2001, a year after finishing my BFA at Indiana University and just a couple months before 9/11.  New York was essentially a whole new world to me-endlessly fascinating and complicated visually and socially. I found my way to adulthood through Union Square, the Bronx, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Coney Island, Williamsburg and many other neighborhoods in the five boroughs, each with its own character and stories.   Painting and drawing became a way for me to understand and place myself within this mosaic of activity.  I started painting out of my bedroom but soon moved my practice to the street instead, building on a plein air practice I had started at Indiana University.  Every corner held a new picture and new people to meet with their own stories of the neighborhood.  I was encouraged in this pursuit by the owners of the gallery where I worked, Park Slope Gallery, who gave me my first solo show of my cityscapes, “A Brooklyn Year” in 2006.  New York continues to be an inspiration to me, with each subway train holding holding enough inspiration for a life’s work.