I was born in Narvik, Norway in 1998. Moms Norwegian and my dads American. They wanted my brother and I to grow up with both cultures so… we were raised hiking and fishing above the arctic circle for half the year and the other half surfing and skating on a small island off the west coast of Florida. (Anna Maria Island). With school in both countries and two very different worlds.

I first started to paint after my parents and uncle gave me some paint pens and canvas for my 11th birthday.
At the age of 12 and after only one year of painting, I decided to introduced myself as an artist (with a home printed business card) to a local artist at a festival, Chad Ruis. That was enough to gain his respect so he became my first mentor and took me under his wing for many art projects, murals and live art events.
At the age of 15, I got to see Brazilian/Italian Artist, Felipe Salsano painting live at a restaurant in Florida. I was very inspired by his classical approach so after we met, I quickly added him on facebook and sent him many of my works, asking for critiques. He taught me a lot via messenger and eventually returned to teach a workshop when I was 17. After I finished normal school, I told Felipe I wanted to come study art in Florence, Italy. So in 2016 I went to visit him and he introduced me to the city and some academies. I fell in love…

I moved to Florence, Italy at the age of 19 to paint naked people and study the Russian academic method at FCAA. At the time it was the only school in Florence teaching composition, constructive drawing/painting from model and how to work from imagination. However, after two years at that academy, my favorite teacher ended up leaving and started his own bottega called Chiaroscuro Atelier.
So in 2019, I went to study there under this living master named Sergey Chubirko. The man did 9 years at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (a 300 year old art institute), graduated top of his class and is a master at composition. Of course I had to transfer schools.
I’ve now studied vigorously with him for 4 years. It hasn’t been easy but damn he’s taught me a lot. And not just about theory & technique but about the path to creativity and how to transfer my stories to canvas. When I started my path to academic art I found myself getting a little lost, striving for the most realistic portrait and still life which is good but I felt as if I was losing my creativity. Sergey has guided me back to my roots of wanting to tell stories with my paint and poetry with my brushstrokes. I cant thank him enough and its been an absolute honor to learn from him.

I’d like to thank Chad Ruis, Felipe Salsano, and Sergey Chubirko for being incredible mentors and guiding me in the path I wish to follow.
And a massive thank you to my mom, dad, Uncle Andrew, and my brother for helping me and supporting me since day one.
Oh and here is a list of my favorite artists that inspire me: Karl Bryullov, Michelangelo, Veronese, Botticelli, Semiradsky, Polenov, Repin, Mariano Fortuny, Vereshchagin, Kramskoi, honestly the list just goes on…