Steve has been involved in the visual arts for most of his professional life. His attraction to painting grew from watching his mother paint landscapes as he was growing up and from his studies of the great portrait painters. As the owner and photographic portrait artist at LSN Studios - a leading portrait studio in Reno, Nevada, Steve created artistic wall portraiture of families, children and high school seniors for more than twenty years. Every day was a new exercise in composition, lighting, color values and personality management! He earned the Master of Photography Degree from the Professional Photographers of America in 2003. During these years he also created a vast library of landscape photographs, many of which were imaged using film on large and medium format camera gear and printed in his studio darkroom. He later became an expert user of Adobe Photoshop. Steve leverages these experiences and knowledge in the creation of his paintings. Steve is inspired by a multitude of diverse influences from across the spectrum of the arts and nature. He is fond of the work of the California Impressionists, a small group of artists active in the early 20th century that drew inspiration from the French impressionist ideals to create groundbreaking images of the then-mostly undeveloped Golden State. He has hiked the Nevada desert and the Sierra Nevada - including portions of the John Muir Trail ad has summited Mount Whitney. He researched, wrote and directed a documentary film over the span of three years - Harolds Club - the story of the pioneering Reno casino. He became smitten with Craftsman architecture and the turn of the 20th century Arts and Crafts movement many years ago, and is grateful everyday to live in a period Craftsman home. Steve cannot get enough of the Tiki aesthetic and the associated mid-century Polynesian pop movement. He has been a lifelong musician and currently plays guitar for Reno-based rockabilly band Hot Rod Rebellion.