My paintings tell a story. Working in Book Arts has enabled me to push it to a higher level, incorporating text and imagining a complex narrative. A lifelong Californian, I stay outdoors as much as possible and the surroundings inform my perceptions of color and light. California has always been hyped as a paradise, and I like to focus on the realities of an America gone mad. I don't see that as necessarily dystopic, but a time in our history no crazier than any else.