A Brief Biography

Since my retirement from a career in physical science, painting has become a primary focus of my life. I paint daily, trying to follow Whistler's dictum 'no day without a line'. I exhibit my work as the opportunity presents itself and participate actively in workshops and critiques with fellow artists. Most of my work is done is soft pastels and watercolor though more recently I have begun to place more emphasis on oil painting. I try for simplification in my work - seeking unifying elements in the touch of a leaf on water, the way in which rocks and grass intermingle, the nature of the land-water interface, interactions among flowers, and the relationships between nature and people. I have found that limiting my palette is an essential part of such unification and in this I am guided by such masters as Cezanne and Braque.

I was born, and educated up to my first degree, in Western Australia. I subsequently earned an MA from Cambridge University and a Doctorate in Physics from the University of Western Australia. In 1949 I began a research career in Sydney on problems of solar physics and stellar astronomy. In 1956 I came, with my family, for a three-year visit to the US, returning to Boulder in 1960. From 1964 to 1983 I was on the faculty of the University of Hawaii where I founded and directed its Institute for Astronomy. In 1983 I became the founding Director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, Arizona. From 1987 until retiring in 1996 I returned to research. I am the author of a monograph and some 150 contributions to the scientific literature.

I have had little formal training in art - only a few classes at the University of Arizona. I have benefited principally from working with many fine Tucson-area artists in class settings and in painting and critique groups.  Most of my work is on landscapes of the American Southwest and still-life arrangements set up in my studio although quite a few of my paintings derive from travel - particularly to my native Western Australia.

Perhaps because of my scientific background I like to experiment - e.g., with new ways of applying pigment and different surface treatments. Several examples are shown in the paintings displayed here. 

My paintings are represented in private collections throughout the United States and foreign countries.From 1966 on my work has been shown in many local galleries in group,  and in one- or two-person, exhibits. In the latter category were shows at the Murphey Gallery in 2003 and 2008, the de Grazia Little Gallery and the Jewish Community Center Gallery in 2006, and the main branch of the Pima Library in 2008.