I'm and artist and musician born and raised in Clearwater, Florida. As far back as I can remember I was drawing pictures. By the age of 4 I would draw abstract scribbles on everything in the house. If I didn't have a crayon or other writing apparatus, I would use something sharp and carve the image onto floors and walls. A year or two later, I was drawing dinosaurs thanks to my Father buying me and my brothers the Time-Life Nature series books which had a big impact on my future interest in drawing because of the various animals I discovered, not just dinosaurs. Television was a big influence as well, the various science fiction and monster movies were a big hit with me. When I got more skilled I eventually moved on to more complex things like freight trains with the occasional dinosaur thrown in sometimes attacking the engineer. I took a keen interest in machinery when the road in front of my family's house was widened. I was impressed and inspired by the heavy earth moving machines that were used. Bulldozers, dump trucks, tractors, graders, and steamrollers. But paving machines were the coolest of all because they were such complex, bizarre looking machines. I expanded the subject matter with objects like power poles with transformers and wires, factories, power plants, smoke stacks, electrical transmission towers. Dinosaurs began morphing into creatures of my own design. Nude women was also a favorite subject and would be a recurring theme all through my life. I grew up with four brothers, Greg, Erik, Peter and  Stevie. Erik and Peter (unfortunately deceased) liked to compete with me for having the most twisted sense of humor and it was a lot of fun. They liked to draw as well but I had more experience and could gain an edge with my highly detailed, violent and bizarre cartoons, pushing beyond the boundaries of bad taste. Not wanting to be outdone by my younger brother Peter, who had a sicker imagination than mine, we would collaborate at times and some of the drawings were really outrageous with young Stevie getting into the action too, usually people we knew or disliked were the subject matter, i.e., fellow classmates, teachers, neighbors, my own family, etc.  "Tony", our dad, thought some of the drawings were funny even though he was rather conservative but never seemed to care as long as we were not out getting into trouble. Greg, who is 5 years older than me, went to San Francisco in 1969 and brought back some psychedelic posters and underground comics called "Zap Comix". I was influenced by the very outrageous and imaginative "no holds barred" style of comics which included graphic pornography, extreme violence, and social and political commentary. Comic artists Robert Crumb, Robert Williams, Victor Moscoso and S. Clay Wilson were all very talented artists who added incredible complexity and surrealism to comic art that went way beyond standard comics, which I totally abandoned, Superman could go fuck himself, Walt Disney too!  After Zap Comix there's no going back.  I was influenced by the Zap artists and started drawing cartoons in the form of telling a story which continued for many years along with my more "serious" art.  I went on to draw surrealism by the time I was 15, letting my dreams and imagination run wild. I was also learning to play guitar and became a musician and started playing in Rock bands. I was fascinated with the macabre and the drawings were rather dark and unsettling. In the mid 70's I discovered the artwork of H.R. Giger which inspired me in a huge way and I became more serious about drawing large format surrealistic pieces with pen and ink and my focus was on detail. I would spend months drawing extremely complex pieces, most of which I gave away or were destroyed or lost. In 1988 I started a job drafting for a land survey firm where I discovered mylar (semi-opaque plastic paper used for making blueprints) and started using graphite and color pencil, my first "serious" pieces in color. I also started painting with acrylics, but that only lasted a short time, detailed illustration was in my blood. During this time I also got addicted to opiates, a problem that came back to haunt me from time to time for many years. Throughout the 1990's I took a break from doing art and focused on my music and was also trying to get my life straightened out and to stop using opiates, I was also working as a Survey Technician using AutoCAD by that time. In 2000 I cleaned up and was ready to start one of the most prolific periods in my life. During the early 2000's I returned to my art and worked exclusively with mylar. I was also playing music and released two albums in 2002 and 2006 but also managed to start exhibiting my work in galleries and art shows. I sold or gave away almost all my artwork. In 2015 I decided to experiment with Photoshop and found I could express myself much better by scanning my drawings and enhancing them digitally. In 2018 I began my series of paintings about the Inca Empire after being inspired by Dr. William Sullivan's book about their history. I wrote a short essay about this which accompanies my first painting. I spent 3 years working on those pieces and then began other large paintings and also returned to doing cartoons with a sarcastic edge. I take the finished file and print posters and giclée prints on canvas to give away or sell. I still write and perform music and play keyboards in a band I formed. I consider myself fortunate to grow up in the environment I did with a family that had a lot of drama and pathos but a lot of fun too. Also friends I met later in high school were also influential.