When I began painting as a twelve-year old, landscape painting was my first love. Everything about Mother nature fascinated me. As a young boy, I spent hours in the tiny local library reading books about: trees, flowers, mountains, lakes, oceans, rivers, deserts, reptiles, rocks & minerals. I hiked in the local meadows and foothills of my home town Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles. In the 1960s, there were vast undeveloped areas to explore. Every summer, my family vacationed in the spectacular natural settings of California: Sequoia, King’s Canyon, and Yosemite. We visited The Grand Canyon, Zion and Yellowstone. I and other,