Born in 1966 and growing up in Lincolnshire, IL I have always been interested in art. I spent a lot of my childhood drawing, painting and sculpting. My mother is also an artist that would nurture my creativity.

I pursued a B.A. degree in illustration and graphic design attending Ray Vogue College of Design which is now part of The Art Institute of Chicago. I studied oil painting techniques from my teacher Conrad Hack. After graduating college I began a career in Chicago working as an Illustrator and worked with clients such as Coca-Cola, M&M Mars, Disney, Kraft and many others. Illustrating for an agency can take its toll and it just didn’t fulfill the artistic outlet I needed and I always had paintings going on the side. Moving to Denver, CO in the mid 90’s I continued a career in Illustration and eventually got very involved in computer graphics and web development. I started my own web development company called Wicks Web Solutions, LLC. while still painting and exploring different techniques.  Torn between the real and surreal I try to meld them together. I try to pull emotions from the viewer in the way of creativity and fantasy. Having artistic freedom and painting in oils helps define me and gives me almost a sense of purpose. Some of my paintings have been called disturbingly dark and others beautiful.

My artistic influences include Dali, Alex Grey, Rembrandt, M.C. Escher, Pollack, Picasso, Chet Zar, and Van Gogh to name a few.