I grew up in San Francisco and graduated from San Francisco State College. In 1987, my wife, Janet and I moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Janet became the director of the Carmel Art Association; and from 1997 to 1999, I wrote and illustrated a weekly column for The Pine Cone, “The Daytrip”. A reincarnated version of that column ran in the Sunday Travel section of the Santa Babara News-Press from 2001 to 2006. I have written four children’s books for Sleeping Bear Press, including “G is for Golden, a California Alphabet”. In 2003, we moved to Healdsburg where we own and operate an art gallery, J. Howell Fine Art.