I was born 1943, Rush County, Indiana, and grew up in southern Indiana. I studied at the Herron School of Art, Indianapolis.
My first “real” job as a commercial artist was for by Rueben H. Donnelley in Cincinnati, Ohio. One evening after work I went to the library I saw a book in a glass case. It was open to a page with a monochromatic painting by Andrew Wyeth titled “The Mill”. I realized that that was what I wanted to do, paint like that.
I have been inspired by several artists since then; Edward Hopper, Stow Wengenroth, Eric Sloane (I got to spend an evening with him in his studio), Peter Hurd (spent an afternoon with him in his music room/gallery), as well as drawing inspiration from many of the impressionists.
All of my subject matter comes from something I’ve seen, someplace I’ve been. Something that moved me enough to want to try to capture what I felt about it.
My early work reflected my background of having grown up on a farm. Lots of barns, fences, plants, rural scenery in general. From the very beginning I would occasionally do something from one of the contiguous forty-eight states that I’ve traveled in, but in recent years my work has come more from my travels to other countries, as well as several states, and only occasionally from nearby surroundings.
Travel has also been very inspiring. I have visited the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, and several other museums in Paris. I was able to visit the stone quarry at Solnhofen, Germany where my litho stones came from. And have, of course, visited many of the major art museums in the U.S.
In recent years I have focused on competitions. I have won many international awards for miniature paintings and lithographs, as well as many awards in the annual state-wide Watercolor Wisconsin competition in Racine, WI. I am a member of The Miniature Painters, Sculptors, and Graver’s Society of Washington, D.C., as well as the Wisconsin Watercolor Society.
I have been painting professionally since 1969, and printing stone lithography since 1981.