I am a native Californian and my greatest inspiration comes from the beautiful natural landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area. I express my love of nature in both Dreamy Realism (realistic landscapes and seascapes with an impressionist overtone...the imprint of a scene on the mind, with the soft edges of memory) and Contemporary Zen (botanical abstracts in a modern Asian style, such as autumn leaves, florals, cherry blossoms, and so on). I have been painting most of my life. I did my first oil painting when I was 12. Although mostly self taught, I have an A.A. Degree in Fine Arts from West Valley College in Saratoga, CA. I am a second-generation artist. My father, Walter Sears Milnor (1936-2001), concentrated on painting large canvases of the California missions