Julian
My mother was a painter and my father a university mathematics professor. Their friends were artists, poets and academics. That was the world I grew up in. In 1969 I went to St. Martinʼs School of Art in London. I was elected to the student union board. I attended pottery classes part-time at Southampton Art School for two years. I took a government training in carpentry and joinery and went on to work on historical restoration projects including work on a 16th century farmhouse in the tiny West Sussex village of Amberley. My commute was a five minute walk past stone walls, roses and thatched cottages.
Marie and I were married in California in December of 1980. Soon after, I joined the carpentry crew at the Muir Beach Zen Center, practicing Japanese joinery under the tutelage of master Japanese builder, Paul Disco. After that I worked as a carpenter on many custom homes and remodels in the Bay area. In 1989 I joined an interior design and furniture studio. It was a great learning experience in design and production and I was able to work on homes in Malibu and Beverly Hills. In 1997 I created an interior design studio with Marie and somehow through all this I have managed to find time when I can return to painting canvases.