I was born an orphan in a small town in Lithuania. I came to this country, stowing away on a cargo transport ship with only ten dollars in my pocket, determined to …

No. Totally untrue, but my late father told me that if I made up a good story and spoke in broken English, I would sell more paintings. Probably true but I never tried it.

Here is the real story. I went to art school once upon a time. Lived life. Had a “day job”. Fell in love with oil paints. The smell, the feel, the effects, everything about oils enchanted me.

A painting took a few days at most. And slowly, watercolor took over.  I painted and painted and painted.

And I went out to look at things and take photos of them. Then I wanted those photos to look like paintings so I went back to my darkroom days and started editing my photos with filters and with lightening or darkening areas. My photos became popular and I got into shows.

But I still think of myself as a painter in all I do.