From birth, sea water has run through my veins

From birth, sea water has run through my veins. I’ve never lived more than ten minutes from the mean high water mark … and I never will. As long as I’ve been alive I’ve been fixing stuff, making stuff, drawing stuff. Just like Mom and Dad. It’s beyond what I do – rather, it’s who I am. When I was 16 I got a job painting fish and nautical scenes at the Twisted Fish, an art gallery in Nags Head, owned by a cool, burned out, surf bum. He’d leave me a six pack and a note with instructions of what to paint that day while he caught waves. All day, every day painting Mahi, marlin, turtles, lighthouses, sharks of all types, barracuda – all acrylic on wood that we collected from the beach. We sold my artwork to divers, fishermen, restaurants, surfers, locals and tourists.