My home and studio lie across the Golden Gate Bridge in the town of Fairfax.

I teach illustration, painting and art history at the California College of the Arts (CCA).

What I paint is informed by the big church paintings I saw as a kid, narrative paintings from every era, and conceptual illustration, which derives from the Symbolist painting tradition. The author Gabriel Marquez and his magical realist writings provide me continued inspiration.

I am compelled to paint when I find an idea that possesses a strong first "read", which contains accompanying narrative elements, and most essentially, an opinion or something meaningful I feel the need to convey.

I wrap raw canvas on a wood panel support. I then build each picture from a detailed brown pencil drawing, over which I apply acrylic opaque and translucent glazes.

I paint because I feel it that it’s the artist’s fondest ambition to tell stories, large and small. That there is a responsibility to try to widen the doors of perception. I paint because I enjoy asking “what if?”

Rock Norman well.