About Me

Before my parents emigrated to the United States in 1969, I called Portugal my first home where I was born in 1956.  It was after I learned English as a second language that I was placed in public school , graduating high school in 1975.  It was during high school that I met Karen Saler, the art teacher that would have great influence on my life as an artist, going on to help me with obtaining a Board of Education Scholarship to continuing my education. I am fortunate to call her a good friend to this day.

From 1975 to 1980 I attended Tyler School of Art and spent a semester in Rome through the Temple Abroad Program in 1978.  Going to art school at the height of Abstract Expressionism was difficult for me, as I was much more interested in the traditional approaches to art and learning the craft of painting. My semester in Rome was a wonderful time, as it allowed me first hand experiences to the work of the masters.

After graduating, I found depending on my art to make a living to be difficult, and lacking the required skills to paint in the traditional vein I found myself in the business world where I was able to provide for my family.  Because of this, my career in art took a back seat, but I never let go of the joys of my work.. I made the decision to continue to feed my passion for art and promised myself moving forward that I would trust my eyes and believe in my own sense of beauty, no longer listening to the constant advise to abandon the world of representation that was always so visually interesting to me as the basis of all my work.  Over the years I developed and refined my sensibilities without teachers, but instead by reading books and visiting museums.

The advent of the internet allowed me to understand that my story reflected many representational artists throughout the country.  Although I never again took a class or a workshop, I followed trends online and believe it has had a profound effect on the artist I am today, finding my greatest joys in observation of figures, landscapes, and still life, as I believe they are far more alike than not in the visual world.

• Awards
• 2019 Brandywine Plein Air event " nocturne competition winner "
• 2019 Paint Berlin Plein Air event " quick draw competition winner "
• 2018 Paint Berlin Plein Air event " quick draw competition winner "
• 2018 Paint Berlin Plein Air event  " honorable mention "
• 2018 Philadelphia Sketch Club plein air event " shared 1st place with 2 other artists "
• 2018 1st place award MRAC yearly open competition
• 2018 Artists of Yardley yearly competition 3rd place award
• 2017 Paint Berlin Plein Air event 1st place award
• 2017 Paint Berlin Plein Air event " Artists's choice award "
• 2017 Paint Berlin Plein Air event " Worcester County art directors award "
• 2017 Paint Berlin Plein Air event " Legislative award "
• 2017 1st place award at MRAC yearly open competition
• 2017 GNAL Award of Merit
• 2017 First Prize and the Domenico DiStefano Medal for works on paper at Philadelphia Sketch Club
• 2015 Cheltenham Art Center Best portrait award
• 2015 GNAL award of Merit yearly painting competition
• 2014 Cheltenham Art Center winner of the Alma & Albert Finestone Award 
• 2008 Hopkins House ( Camden County Cultural Center )  2nd place award
• 2004 Wallingford Art Center 3rd place award
• 2003 Cheltenham Art Center member's show award
• 2000 Wallingford Art Center President's award
• 1975 Board of Education Scholarship to Tyler School of Art
• 1975 Gimbels  Award for Excellence in Portraiture in Watercolor