My first home was in the house my father, Victor Tinkey, built in Bayside, CA. My brothers and I grew up in the countryside, having advantages of rural Humboldt. It taught us somehow never to forget the basics of life and not be carried away by the superficialities that are encountered in the so called sophisticated world. Willow Creek summers, Horse Mountain winters, and foggy days at Moonstone were our home and their events fashioned our lives.

After graduating from Eureka High School, we all continued on to Humboldt State University.  Lured to the big snow in the Rockies, we had the ski bug.  While at Westminster College in Utah, I took some art classes and fell in love with the notion that I could paint.  Homesick for the folks back home and the ocean, I moved back, married, and then graduated from Chico State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.  After raising my family, it was time to re-enter the professional art world.  The North Coast has been a major influence in my art.  The style of my paintings can split from impressionistic to whimsical.