ORIGINAL FISHING ART

LANDSCAPES

SEASCAPES

LIMITED EDITION PRINTS

COMMISSIONS

FRESH ART
BLOG

CARING FOR
NEW ART

LINKS I RECOMMEND

Being called a self taught artist, forces me to read everything I can get my hands on and study everything I see. My personal approach to my education and art has allowed me many freedoms to explore and experiment as I want.

I sold my first painting at age 16 to the wife of world renowned artist/author Rudy De Reyna. While I have always been involved in art in some way I have also been and done many other things which I feel helped form my art. My professions have run from ditch digger to art director, victorian restoration painter to nightclub owner, sign carver to commercial fisherman and many more in between. I've also served my country in two branches of the military, jumped from a perfectly good plane and bungeed from a bridge. I'll run barefoot through the snow at times because I like the way it feels, and have climbed mountains in the dark to watch the sunrise. However the one constant in all the things I do and have done is that I can never stop creating and like a magnet I'm always drawn back to art.

I am constantly inspired by what I experience outdoors. I am an avid hunter and fisherman and proud of it. From beautiful to brutal, hilarious to heartbreaking, I find nature is truth in the purest form. Never asking for praise and having no need for forgiveness.

Out in the wild I learn interesting things about myself and the art of nature. Varied experiences have lead to new knowledge and insight, such as how very intense the colors of the woods become when an angry bull moose chases you down a mountain. Or that bears can appear to be gentle, playful creatures and are a lot of fun to watch or sketch, until you refuse to share your frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich with them.
Long periods afield have proven to me that squirrels actually do fall out of trees and birds fly straight into them. Also if your not careful, the sound of an icy river your fly fishing in, can lull you to sleep and give you a hell of a shocking wake up. I never see snow as pure white, but a reflection of the millions of colors around it, and I've learned the sound of silence 20 miles from civilization can be quite deafening.
You may think these strange reasons for inspiration, but to me nature is the purest and most honest art there is. The perfection lies in its imperfection.

About 5 years ago I decided to forego chasing my tail and the almighty dollar,accept the fact that I am simply an artist, and take my leap of faith. I now paint full time professionally, and with the incredible patience, help and tenacity of my beautiful girlfriend run Savlen Studios, in gorgeous Friday Harbor. If you are ever in the area please feel free to contact me for a private viewing of the larger pieces on display in my studio. We always like meeting new people.