I was born on the west coast of Canada at the top end of famous highway 101. We lived close to the land.

Our summer diet was a bit similar to that of the bears who would sometimes wander into our back yard—fresh fish and wild berries. Besides fishing, summers also meant swimming, kayaking, water-skiing, painting and drawing and lying on the beach. Many a night on the beach was spent discussing such burning questions as who were better: the Beatles or the Beach Boys. After high school a more important question arose - stay or go. Staying meant working in the paper industry, I chose to go.

First stop was art school deep in the mountains of eastern B.C. The next stop was the big city, Toronto. After many years of that it was back to the coast for a spell before setting off to see the capitals of Europe. My first jaunt through Europe lasted a year and a half and ended up with a return voyage to Canada via the Trans-Siberian railroad and a short stay in Tokyo.
My first Russian adventure inspired me to attend university where I studied Russian language and Art History.

After a couple of years of university I was off again. I spent four months in Leningrad practicing the Russian language and studying the art and culture of the city.

I went back to Canada after that but I soon returned to Europe, this time to marry and see some of the capitals I missed the first time around. I have been back and forth between the coast and Basel several times but Basel is now home and there are still one or two capitals to visit and still plenty to paint and draw.