What makes you tick?

Growing up surely came with growing pains. Ray spent the majority of his childhood through a revolving hospital door.  He required numerous surgeries that kept him at home with his mother Alice.  She was a free spirit with an artistic soul, who ironically, was an avid painter herself...and a good one at that.  Alice created mostly seascapes and portraits of the world around her. She kept Ray busy by filling their time together surrounded by paint and brushes. Ray's fond memories of his childhood spent in their basement studio together sparked, what he believes is his passion and need for creating, as it's become his soul purpose in life.

In 1969, on the very day man landed on the moon, Ray and Alice spent the entire evening out on their porch looking up at the moon in astonishment. They could hardly believe that people where actually out there in space. It was a moment in time that Ray will never forget. When they retired late in the evening, Alice turned to him and quoted Julius Caesar from Shakespeare; "Your fate rests not in your stars, your fate rests within yourself". 

Feeling inspired, Ray woke the next morning and decided to give up all sports activities to focus solely on his art work. He figured he could to change the world and became President of his class in an effort to allow girls to wear pants and boys to grow their hair far below their collars. He never became President, but he did manage to grow his hair.

Ray's work is typically compared to that of the legendary Vincent Van Gough. Although it is quite the compliment, upon a real review, his style of painting is that of his own. The vision of Vincent Van Gough paintings to communicate the emotion of the moment is far better than most artists and reaches far into more peoples' souls than the ladder.