I failed the very first assignment
of my academic career . . .
On DAY ONE of kindergarten
I colored the balloons
instead of counting them.
The artistic itch was already that strong.
Undaunted by such inauspicious beginnings,
I went on to win a string of prestigious awards:
2nd Place, National Safety Poster Contest!
3rd Place, Local Pumpkin Carving Contest!
1st Place, Small Town Window Painting Competition
(against a bunch of kids roughly half my age, as it turned out.)
Naturally, such accolades kept the itch going,
so I went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from a small college in the Midwest.
My real education, however, took place
during the 15 or 20 years
when I sat at my desk 50 or 60 hours a week
drawing whatever the telephone (ad agencies, mostly)
told me to draw.
Most Americans would have stumbled upon my work
at sometime during the 80's or 90's--
in restaurants and sporting goods stores,
at summer camps and public libraries,
from IBM to hospitals and book covers to billboards.
"I'm really famous," I used to tell my kids,
"just nobody knows it."
Three forces conspired to make me
the artist that I am today:
1) The joy of creating,
2) Clients with deadlines,
3) The threat of starvation.
I now spend most of my time as a “Fine Artist”
— which essentially means you don’t get paid for your work.
(Until it sells.)
I paint cityscapes a lot; I paint my hometown a lot.
(Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)
I nearly always paint with an audience, live or online— at
Youtube Channel
Everything else you can figure out by looking at my website.
As of last count, there are approximately 1,697 works of art represented on this website.
WHY S O MANY?
1) Because I’ve been doing this a long time. I want my Mom to know I’ve been busy.
2) I’m not trying to sell stuff here, so I don’t care that much if it’s too much for ya.
3) This is my online portfolio, if you will. I’ve done a lot of stuff. I want you to see it.
