My art is not an exercise in, nor an attempt to master hyper realism. My drawings came from an inner desire to find “happiness” again. A creative satisfaction I was no longer getting from simply being an advertising Creative Director. Don't get me wrong, I love the ad biz, but the last several years had sucked the happiness out of it for me. My wife, Lynn encouraged me to start drawing again and as I did I looked for that thing that would inspire me. That "thing" turned out to be “things” that made me happy as a kid growing up in Algonac, Michigan. As I continue to see, these things make other people happy too.

As an ad guy, I thought there had to be an art movement out there like “tribalism” or “familiarism”, art that people identify with at an emotional level. (OMG! Ad speak...) I haven't found one yet. Lynn had an idea that sounded interesting — “Evocationism”. She said it was the act of calling forth — evoking of old memories. From postings on Facebook, that's what's happening. Friends are telling me how fun and cool this series is. Which is why I've been calling this work “Happy Art” — because it's brought my happy back!