My history is fairly simple. My father, George Carey, was an editorial artist for the L.A. Times. He is an amazing artist very skilled with the pencil and oil paint. (I will be helping him set up a web site very soon and will keep a link to it as well.) Anyhow, I grew up watching him draw and paint with the greatest of ease. I guess that sort of planted the "art seed" in me. I didn't think I was so talented and I didn't really like the art classes I took in high school and college, but I think that has more to do with me being young and ignorant.
When I was 18, I moved from my family home in Manhattan Beach to Venice Beach. I had visited Venice when the Hari Krishna's had the "Festival of Chariots" which consisted of a HUGE parade down the boardwalk with thousands of Hari Krishna's chanting & throwing beads and granola off these magnificent chariots. They proceeded to the other end of the boardwalk where they had bands and free feasts and beautiful Indian things to look at and buy. I was hooked....not to be a Hari Krishna but hooked on Venice itself. Any kind of place that could be open to such bizarre events was a lot more interesting than life in Manhattan Beach. Besides it was time to move on and discover myself a bit.
Venice seemed like a dreamscape. Interesting people everywhere...artists, poets, musicians, dancers, actors, on and on. I had a wonderful life there and met many life long friends. One of these friends was a girl named Wendy. She would later become influential in me taking on the art world. Wendy is a very talented individual and a most fabulous artist. She paints with an incredible palette of color. I remember during the long days of hanging out with her just getting lost into the beauty of her paintings. They themselves were inspiring.
After a few years in Venice I felt it was time to move on to the next adventure and I debated between Maui or Europe. The idea was to go to one of these places for a period of 1 year. My decision finally set in that as I had never really been far away from family I should go to Maui in case I felt I would want to run back. I'd later find that rather than run back I would end up staying for a good number of years and my family would run to me (in a sense). For that chapter...read on.......