I’ve spent a lot of time writing, editing, and publishing words over the years.

In my youth I founded and ran two publishing companies – Bleak House Books (2000-2009) and Tyrus Books (2009-2017) until the latter was sold to Simon & Schuster. I now help people identify and tell the stories of their lives as a co-owner of Collaborist .

Working around words has gone from purely a form of creative expression to something more complicated and nuanced. It’s the intersection of art and commerce that has taken some of the spark away from writing.

In 2014, after the suicide death of a friend, I volunteered in all 50 states as part of the Be Local Everywhere project. I believe in helping where we can, when we can. I currently serve on the boards of Common Wealth Development and Wrath-Bearing Tree. 

In the fall of 2022 I was co-hosting a writing retreat in Salida, Colorado with my friend, Anita Mumm. The artist Carl Ortman, who maintains a gallery and studio in Salida, opened his space to the assembled writers and invited them to try painting as a different creative outlet.

I painted for the first time since elementary school and experienced the joy I felt when working on a novel. The best part about painting was that I could create for the sake of creation. Could create without apology. Unlike the publishing and writing worlds, I didn’t know anything about “the rules” or the business side. I didn’t know any art critics or esteemed galleries—I just knew what I was feeling as I dragged paint across the canvas.

I continue to paint to this day, burying myself in more than 200 canvases that I have acquired over the last three years. I have avoided taking classes, watching YouTube tutorials, or studying with any sort of close eye, the work of others.

The act of creation is mesmerizing, but also, I’ve been able to unlock great swaths of a novel I’ve been working on for more than a decade. I’ve been able to see into the future, tap into the past, and settle fully in the present. Painting has expanded my understanding of the world around me in immeasurable and often inarticulatable ways.

This work around paint and painting led me to projecting photographs from my personal archives onto walls of canvases. The color, motion, and texture of the paintings adds an element to the photographs that my brain remembers, but my eyes hadn’t been able to previously perceive when it was only a simple photograph. After learning how to and that I had permission to play with this combined modality, I added different colored lights to the mix to create ethereal dreamscapes that I can escape into and explore without end.

It’s also been a way for me to celebrate places I’ve been and more importantly, people I’ve had the blessing to meet and share time and space with no matter how briefly.

This website is a fluid gallery space and auditorium currently dedicated to documenting discovery and understanding. If anything resonates with you and you’d like to get an original piece or a print or make a subject matter request or you’d like to share your own observations, please feel free to email me.