HEY THERE

   I learned at an early age ,that I had a special talent for doing Art Work drawing and coloring was one of my favorite pass times as a child. It came easy to me to the point that it just seemed to be the natural thing to do. By the fourth or fifth grade I had began using charcoals and pastels. It wasn’t until the seventh grade that I took my first real Art class and was introduced to water colors, ink, temper and tempera paints, God did I love it. For the love of Art and my natural talent I always put a little extra effort into the work I did that made my Art a little better than my fellow students. Resulting in me receiving a little extra attention from my Teachers and compliments from my peers that gave me a sense of pride for the work I had done. All of this made me want to work harder and do better work. Of course I enjoyed the extra attention, what really motivated me though was the creative process of doing the Art work itself. When I paint I go into my own zone it’s as if it is something with in me that is controlling the brush. I also like to compare it to reading a good book that you just can’t put down, only you are not just reading and waiting to discover what happens next you are doing the writing. By the time I started High School I had already taught myself to use oils and acrylics I quickly chose oils as my favorite medium. I majored in Art from Middle School through High School. After High School I joined the Regular Army for two years in 1972 so I could use the GI Bill to help pay for College.

    I was borne and live in Granite City Il. A small town just east of Saint Louis MO. While I was in the Service my Mother moved to Gallup NM. After my discharge I visited her there. I soon looked into and enrolled In a branch Junior College of the University of New Mexico located in Gallup, as an Art Major. The UNM. Branch at Gallup was a small College that suited me well, they allowed me to jump into a painting class that other Colleges would have required prerequisites for. A small class of twelve people eight of whom were retired residents of Gallup who had been taking this same class for several years..For them it was a place to meet to enjoy each others company, ideas and Art work. They shared a common goal and spirit to create realistic landscape paintings, my medium of choice. I hadn’t painted since be for I entered the Service, watching them work and seeing the quality of their paintings and the way they acted so nonchalant about it was a real inspiration to me. It took a couple of paintings for me to gain their attention, but they soon accepted me into their inner circle., and it turned out to be a really cool class and learning experience. My only regret is that I was only able to study with them for two semester as I found it necessary to return to my home town for personal reasons.

  Returning to Granite City I continued my major in Art by enrolling at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. I attended S.I.U.E. for four quarters, during the third quarter I began to feel like a starving Artist. At the end of the fourth quarter I decided to change my major to Industrial Electricity and transferred to the Lewis and Clark Community College. I continued to paint for awhile, but slowly drifted away stopping all together shortly after I got my first job as an Electrician in 1978, always telling myself I would pick it up again another day..I regret that it has taken so long, and I rejoice that some thirty years later that day finally arrived. I was laid off from my last job in 2004 and soon there after bought a computer to help me with a PLC class I was taking. I had never used a computer before and even had mysterious wonders of people who spent so much time on them. Not even realizing it at the time I began using the computer to look at Art work more than what I bought it for. The next thing I knew I was painting again. It’s funny how life works sometimes, I gave up my first love to pursue a career as an Electrician and then was lead back to my Art work while trying to improve my skills as an Electrician . Once I started painting again I knew from the first painting I turned out, which by the way is titled EAGLE that I was hooked again.

    These days I spend hours on the computer looking at photographs of landscapes when I find one that I think will make a good painting, I paint it. Using acrylics on canvas I don’t try to copy the photograph, I use it as a mind sit so to speak accenting the colors and bringing out different features and details and going in my own direction, so that it is my interpretation or enhancement of the photograph. Sometimes I use different parts of several different photographs to create one painting. I like to think and hope you agree with me that my painting style falls some where between realism and impressionism bordering closer to realism.

Because I paint from photographs you might have a favorite Photo I can turn into a fine peace of Art