I was born in 1951 on the island of Puerto Rico. I received formal education in the pubic schools of NYC. Art has always interested me. I began actively engaging in the craft in a gradual manner. I liked to draw and as a teen I would hang out on the roof of my building where a neighbor carved figures out of wood with Xacto knives. One day he gave me a piece of wood and a used set of blades and got me to try my hand at carving. I carved out a figure that I still have til this day.

I have always had an interest in drawing too. When I was in my 20's I began to practice painting. At first using watercolors and gauche. After this I discovered acrylics. I liked the fact that colors could be blended and stayed wet a little bit longer than guache and watercolors. As an art student at Brooklyn College I began painting with oil colors. I mixed and blended colors haphazardly and produced paintings that showed me that I really did not have a grip on the medium. Oil painting looked easy but getting the paints to do what one wants takes a lot of practice. I could not understand why my paintings didn't look right. I just continued painting by instinct. Some paintings I was pleased with, others I was not. But for the most part I continued to learn from my mistakes.

WAs a student at BC I also learned the art and discipline of egg tempera and Florentine painting. The process is very involved and requires a lot of dedication. I found that oil painting had numerous methods for application of paint – from very loose to very tight, from very thin layered to very thick and impasto, etc. The final painting did not show the initial process used. I found that oil paint was a very forgiving medium. I decided to stick with oil paint as my medium. I still work in egg tempera occasionally but presently I prefer working with oil paints.

Along with painting, my interest in wood carving continued. While I attended Brooklyn College, I took some wood sculpture courses with a wonderful sculptor named Lois Dodd. Here I learned about the different types of wood favored for sculpture work and about wood sculpting tools and chisels. In graduate school I met another student, an accomplished stone sculptor, Alfredo Cardenas, who has since become a very dear friend. He saw some of my wood pieces and got me to try sculpting in stone. He started by explaining the different kinds of stones used for carving as well as the tools and the processes used for carving in stone, from designing the piece to the final refinement and polish. This turned out to be an exciting period in my life as an artist. I never stopped painting, but with Alfredo I developed a stronger interest in carving. With special permission from the graduaate art department we would work after the college had closed each night and on weekends – including Sundays. This continued until we graduated together in June 1999.

I feel that my formal education in art was merely an academic introduction to the craft. The real learning comes with practice, time and work. And there is so much to learn. To-date I find myself still learning and discovering the properties of oil paints and how colors interact when mixed. The fun is in the learning and the learning never ends.