Not really sure when the work of Paul Gaugain insinuated itself so strongly in my mind. As a teen I loved the illustrators such as Coby Witmore and their romantic paintings in the womens magazines. Early on at the Art Center School of Design in LA I discovered that painting faces was my 'forte', and that working at capturing beauty was very much my inclination. When the first big traveling exhibition of Vincent Van Goghs paintings came to LA along with the film 'Lust for Life' I fell in love with his work also.
A short stint in the advertising world showed me where I did not want to spend the rest of my life- and 'escape' became uppermost in my mind.
A chance meeting with a couple that had just returned from Australia and raved on about the new frontier 'down under' led me in that direction. The new jetstrip just opened on the island of Tahiti made me realize that Gaugains islands were high on my list of 'must sees'- so it was a island hop on the way south.
