About

I'm Jeff. I live in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon with my wife Robin and our awesome Golden Retriever Uma. By day I'm a civil engineer serving the public as Public Works Director in Tualatin,  a city located south of Portland that is home to the world famous Pumpkin Regatta (Google it.)

I’m also an artist.

I’m a woodworker and abstract painter. I create wooden bowls, vases, sculptures, and furniture using the wabi sabi style that celebrates the natural character of the wood. I also paint colorful abstract paintings in the expressionistic style - based on intuition using layers of energetic and colorful marks and brush strokes.

When I paint, I attempt to capture the feelings inspired by what I see in the world around me, whether it is the fading paint on a peacock blue Ford Thunderbird or the shifting pattern of colors on a mountain meadow. I start every painting with some vision in my head inspired by a memory, a photo, a conversation, or a song and I transfer that to the canvas. 

I use a variety of gestural marks to start each painting based on my feelings, philosophy, and memory of that moment in time. I use overlapping layers of color with bold marks made with brushes, scrapers, and sometimes household objects.

My abstract work is non-representational, so while the viewer may not see the rusted hood of an old Chevrolet, I hope they feel the essence of that old Chevrolet, which I remembered while I painted.

While largely self taught, I have taken workshops and classes with Cat Tesla, Julie Schumer, Jodi Ohl, and the Drawing Studio in Portland. My memories are influenced by the works of Joan Mitchell, Vincent Van Gogh, Brian Ruttenberg, and other painters and musicians who’s art reflects what they were feeling.