In 2000, I went to Florida for a blues festival, and while I was there, I took a day to visit the Salvador Dali Museum in St.Petersburg. When I got in that night, I was unable to sleep - I was so blown away by what I had seen. When I got back to Chicago, one of the first things I did was pay a visit to my good friend (and music mentor at that time) Robert Novak (aka Bumble Bee Bob Novak). Besides being a fabulous blues player, Bee is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is a great artist in his own right . He was also a friend and contemporary of the late Ed Paschke.

The ensuing conversations about Dali led to many discussions on art philosophy and culminated in Bee encouraging me to paint. Since then, he has continued to mentor me, and in the process , opened my eyes to some of the wonders and secrets of the art world that I would otherwise never have known existed.
Today, I continue to paint, and any little success I have enjoyed, I owe to Bee - for his patience and incredible knowledge on art & artists. The search for truth continues...