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Mark's love of the sea began when he was a child and traveled with his family every year from Chicagoland to the beaches in Florida. Always an avid swimmer, later in life he began swimming one mile per day from La Jolla cove while living in California. The long-distance swimming in the ocean continued when Mark was hired to teach art at Club Med in Mexico, just South of Puerto Vallarta, and so every day he swam out into the Pacific, remaining in awe of the wonders under the sea.... Lucky to be born from a mother who is a landscape painter, Mark began painting at the age of five with oils on canvas and then later acrylic on canvas. Having mom "the artist" to observe in action, and with her support and encouragement, Mark developed his own style of painting at an early age...However, Mark's "formal" training was in Music, playing piano for eight years in recitals, and then singing and starring in various roles in musicals. He majored in Theater Arts, studying Directing and Playwriting at University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and Acting at Columbia College in Chicago.... Mark's professional life as a painter started in 1985, after a whirlwind tour of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil during Carnival time, and then Milan in Italy. After returning to Chicago, he had a sudden rush of inspiration, opening that "old chest from the attic of his unconcious mind" and began creating new paintings. He was selected to exhibit his Brazilian Carnival dancers art in an international T-shirt artists exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago . Soon to follow was the job offer to teach art at Club Med in Mexico where he mastered the technique of painting on silk. Teaching art in paradise at "Playa Blanca" was a miracle in his life that provided him with a beautiful studio full of art supplies and students that were eager to learn and enjoy...After living for awhile in Puerto Vallarta, Mark returned to Florida but then went on to teach art in Ixtapa and Huatulco, Mexico, again at Club Med. Discovering himself in these magical worlds, he was inspired to continuously create his own new works of art, and he continues to do so until today. Unable to forget the happy times in Mexico, Mark has been traveling between Cozumel island in Mexico and Florida for several years. The continuously tropical and mystical influences in his life are very apparent in Mark's paintings. A true romantic, his dreams and longings are obvious, and he shares his heart with you in his creations on silk and on canvas... Having spent early years fascinated with astronomy after receiving a telescope from his father, "the eye doctor", he eventually became an astrological and astrocartography researcher and weekly astrology column writer for the Anna Maria Island "SUN", and so, Mark has since chosen to artistically interpret the Sabian Symbols of astrology, his works in progress....Mark has exhibited his work in Miami, Key West, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Las Vegas, and New York City...