 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
ABOUT THE PERSON
 |
| Late one April evening I arrived in Baltimore Maryland. The youngest of two sisters, my early years were spent in the suburbs of Severna Park, MD. Of course it only took me two months after my birth to be whisked off to the beach of Ocean City, where we spent every summer. As a shy, solitaire boy I grew up in the safeguard of the real world by attending a private catholic school. As this gave me values and proper behavior, this would dramatically change when we moved to Palm Harbor Florida when I was about eleven. |
 |
| Naive and ill prepared for the true reality of life in public school. Where proper moral values and spirituality gave way to vulgar swearing and mischievous behavior. I was torn to shreds! ...but soon learned. During this time my parents had their ‘problems’, so they were never around. Which left the house my sisters and I were in Party Central, letting me party like a Rock Star at the age of 12. I became popular with so my people around - what a cool thing. As I began to yearn to belong in a group my life took a sharp turn with my first experimental drug use. My friends were all smoking marijuana, and thought ‘hey, why not, it can’t hurt me’ – But after I smoked the joint handed to me, I only remember everything going black. Unknown to me at the time was the joint was laced with angel-dust and my heart stopped, as I laid in the middle of the floor my so-called friends left me for dead. |
 |
| Life didn’t have that rosy appeal anymore and I found myself more withdrawn and a recluse again as high school began. I found an escape from that reality of life in my art. As my interest in girls increased, instead of dating them I found myself drawing them. Strangely enough in this process I found myself on a journey of winning awards to a national level. As my senor year dug in, so did my depression. I got a job at McDonald’s, which is the worst thing a creative person can do. New year’s eve I cheated death within an accident which I totaled my little MGB car. As my interest for life faded I only found people yelling at me or just giving up and ignoring me as I passed up scholarship after scholarship. The last week of high school I ended up in the hospital with appendicitis. My mom called the school to see if I could take my exams in the hospital – they replied ‘no, he can make it up in summer school.’ Yea that didn’t happen, and after high school my entire life completely fell apart, and I did what I had to get by. |
 |
| I ended up working as a janitor for a while, and then got a job as a picture framer. Getting Nowhere Fast - I realized I was going to have to get a part-time night job to pay the bills. I ended up picking up another job at a Hooters restaurant as a dishwasher. Working at a bar, life became a blur of drunken days & nights. Sure I had some good times, and if I wasn't drunk at Hooters I was drunk on Clearwater Beach at my favorite beach bar Rockaway Grill. Then one day after 6 yrs of 'drunken bliss' - now the kitchen manager - as I was writing out the crew schedule at the bar. I said to myself "what am I doing, I am an artist..." That’s when I decided to take my chances and pursue my dreams, put my 2 weeks in, and moved to Orlando. |
 |
| I attended a technical school called Full Sail-Real World Education. This education quickly paid off still in school as I picked up a part-time job at Planet Hollywood Orlando as an Audio/ Video Tech to support myself while in school. I study computer graphics and fell in love with it. My passion for art found a new means to express itself. Exhausting all my money while going to school. I was determined to make it out to California. I sold most of my belongings at a garage sale, and what I didn't sell I packed into my old Mustang convertible and headed out west. I will not lie I was very scared. I knew an uncle in Los Angeles (who I hadn't seen in years) He said I could sleep on his couch for a while - So I did. |
 |
| I got a job as a computer graphic artist in Hollywood. Soon after I found a place to live on the beach. I love to bicycle along beach trail, from Venice to Hermosa Beach, or go out ocean kayaking. To travel back & forth to Hollywood I picked up a cute little beach car. I have to admit it's nice to come home and walk down to the shore to watch the sunset. After the death of my beloved cat Jasper. I began to volunteer for an animal rescue called Animal Avengers and did that for years. Now I am back in school at Gnomon's School of the Visual Effects learning video/ film compositing. I also took a sculpting class where it was enjoyable to get 'unplugged' for a bit. Who knows what my next step will be... |
 |
