I am born and raised here in Houston. I went to elementary school in downtown Houston. I became a model maker then a piping designer in the oil/gas/chem engineering field that has allowed me to see parts of the world. That career also get me some time off between jobs. I now consider the lay-offs as a blessing.

I began working with wood and just making things many years ago. Wood has a timeless beauty and flexibility like no other material.

I started entering my work at some Juried competitions and I was placing in them. I was building an inventory and did a couple of Arts & Crafts Shows. What was surprising to me was that there were scouts wanted to find vendors to take part in their higher end shows. That was fun. I have some wonderful stories to tell. However, to do weekly shows and maintain a career I found that I could keep my feet wet in the A&C shows by other avenues.  I enjoyed the career that I had as a plant designer. By this time I was old enough to teach Plant Design. Well there were still ay-offs when projects were not coming in, so during this time I entered projects for fundraising. This is what happened at the Dog Shows. I had enter a doghouse and it won the people’s choice award and set a record for cash raised in 2006.

I entered again in 2007 and set another record for the auction. By this time, my entry fees were waved. There was another event in Houston called Barkitecture. This is when the top architecture firms competed and built some very fine doghouses. I never won 1st, 2nd or 3rd place but when the voting went to the public on the day of the show, my doghouses won the people’s choice award 2 times. Keep in mind that the voting tickets were a dollar each and that money went to the rescue group so when I beat the big guys as a lonely artist who uses old fence boards for the project and won the best of show against the corporate rich, 2 times, I was kinda proud of that.

Well over all, I have entered my doghouses in 12 shows and place in 11 of these events. The best part is that my work has helped these rescue groups with money raised to continue their good work, but I have cats.

Because I was not doing unique woodworking to pay my house note or any other living expenses, I am able to enjoy this hobby. I kind of stumbled into this, I don’t know where the new road is going, I have enjoyed the ride. I have been on the local news in a good way, I had helped in the ‘Extreme Home Makeover’, HGTV. I get to teach Girl Scouts Troops something about unique woodworking and I go to elementary school and talk to the kids during their Career Week. My work help’s to raise funds for good people. All in all, it’s a nice road to be on.