The Story of Art and the Abstract Artist

a.k.a. Haute Toddy, Right Nut

I feel that Monet took the words out of my mouth when he said "Colour is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment."  Inspired by the world of color, texture, and pattern around me, I translate my innermost feelings into a tangible form to share with the world. One work may be dozens of layers and take weeks to execute. 

As a child and young adult I kept my creative urges hidden inside. I never thought that doing what comes naturally to me or doing what I love could ever have an audience. Surprised and blessed, I have found my work in public and private collections from coast-to-coast, Europe, and Mexico in my first two years as a true artist. 

Born in College Station, Texas, I spent formative years in San Antonio, Japan, Texas A&M University, Chicago, and now call Houston home since 1993. I draw inspiration from travels around the world. My desire in life is to support myself solely with my creative mind.

Since childhood I’ve expressed myself both 2-dimensionally and 3-dimensionally, but truly feel that if my teachers had not given me the feeling that one must be able to draw in order to paint, I would have become an artist a long time ago. At age 15 I decided to move to Osaka, Japan as an exchange student. Immersed with host families, daily attendance in high school, and membership in the high school choir, I had my first dream in the Japanese language my third month and became fluent in the Japanese language that year. I learned 2 of the Japanese calligraphy alphabets and one day my calligraphy teacher noted that I wrote some of the 3rd alphabet, Kanji, an art form in and of itself, better than my fellow classmates. In college a friend’s birthday gift, a Siamese fighting fish in a tiny bowl, culminated in the 3-dimensional creations of aquariums up to 8 feel tall that ended up in local restaurants and after graduation ended up in high-rise offices and residences. For the first time in my life I learned that there might be a source of appreciation for the fruits of my creativity other than my loved ones. Upon graduating and getting caught up in the proverbial rat race, I had no energy left for my creative side. This period was spent in the steel business, many years as a real estate broker and owner of a real estate company, and then as owner of a small boutique hotel. Feeling claustrophobic, uninspired, and no longer able to suppress my true self, I began to express myself with paint in 2006. 

I am always learning and challenging the media and tools with which I work and my art evolves on many levels, from one series to the next. In the same way that Picasso once explained "Painting is just another way of keeping a diary", so do I share my emotions and complete energy in every piece I make.

My work is not about politics, religion, or a host of other hot-button issues in the world today. The only statement for this artist to make is about beauty and creation. "If I could express my feelings in words, there would be no reason for art in my life."  

A  note on the debate over Intent vs technique: I’m sorry, but I can’t paint a canvas a solid color and say it is “the essence of color”, call it original, and charge 5 times more for it than a painting with rich emotion and technique. No to mention that it’s been done before. My work will never be a derivative or tangent of another artist, past or present. For me, art is honesty, art is originality.

I always challenge myself to be different and do different. Otherwise, honestly, what's the point in life!?!

And a quote I learned late in life… “I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
― Pablo Picasso