My childhood name was Toto which as any scholar can tell you, is very close to the Latin word for "everything." So I'm not sure what to say.... I'm "everything" - how can you put that onto a single page?

My life to date has been search for beauty. To see beauty, to encapsulate it, to pass it on.

One of the first memories I have is of participating in a race when I was four or five. The goal was to run twenty or thirty feet, pop a balloon held to the ground by a (brave) volunteer, then hustle back to the finish line.

I don't recall what the prize was, because once I saw that balloon, I decided that was all I wanted. It was gorgeous in my four-year-old eyes. When the whistle blew, I ran and snatched up the balloon, ignoring what others were saying the prize was, and choosing beauty instead.

This anecdote exemplifies my life, to pursue the prize of beauty despite the goals others hold or suggest for myself.

I'm not sure why I didn't consider art from the very beginning. I certainly couldn't blame my upbringing, even if I was so inclined. Both of my parents were art hobbyists. My dad's photograph of a bee in a sunflower burns bright in my memory. I still remember a conversation I overheard between my mother & her friend about the colors of shadows.

I think it was merely that I did not understand what I was pursuing....

Since I was ignorant of what I was pursuing, I sought it in many places without success. I have studied computer science, theology, philosophy and linguistics and others.

In the early nineties, I had finished the theology book I had been writing and was at loose ends. I turned my hand to fiction, briefly, but like the song says, I couldn't get no satisfaction. Then one day at the library I noticed the cover of science-fiction novel. I noticed the way the lines moved & the objects worked together, and I was fascinated. I went home, fired up Corel Draw, duplicated the way the objects worked together, saw other possibilities. Before I knew it, hours had flown by and I had a completed computer "painting."

Like Terry Pratchett says, "If you don't know where you're going, you could wind up anywhere." I work at constantly improving my technique. I'm exploring patterns and textures and repetitions of all sorts. I'm trying to make my work more accessible (understandable) to others without losing the focus.

Yes, all that & trying to make a living, too.

I live with my wife, Chloe Ann Key - a quilt artist, in a small town in east Washington.