I began woodworking in early 1993. A life change required that I had to furnish my home and rather than purchase all the pieces I needed, I decided to purchase the necessary tools, build what I wanted and needed, have the house furnished and still have the tools in the end.

Through the years I continued my woodworking, doing my best to develop the skills that are vital to the art. I began by building larger projects, typical of those described in the popular woodworking magazines. These last 5-6 years I have found that the projects have moved from larger ones to much smaller ones, mainly small boxes and serving trays.

I have been taking woodworking classes at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington since 2009. In 2012 they offered a class on marquetry. The class, the environment, and the subject matter were all major contributors in my development as a woodworker. The class spanned five days and I soon discovered marquetry, inlay and veneering as skills I wanted to develop, in the hope that I could add them to those I had already been using. The tools are different, the materials are thinner and more fragile, and the work is at times tedious but the possibilities are enormous.

I view marquetry as an art form that lends itself quite well as a tool to probe the creative and artistic elements of my persona. It provides an opportunity to add a distinctive touch that can set a project apart from the others, to add a little additional "class" or "pizazz". It's only fair to add that, for me anyway, marquetry is one of the more demanding disciplines I have set my mind on doing.