My childhood home, the small town of Russellville, Arkansas, is sandwiched between the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains. For as long as I can remember, I always had something to draw. Most children stop drawing due to lack of interest or negative critique. I never stopped. At 11 years of age, my mother encouraged me to embrace this talent by enrolling me in art classes with Mrs. Gertrude Van Cleave, an art instructor transplanted from Chicago. Van Cleave’s instruction introduced me to drawing, watercolor and oil painting. Her lessons challenged me to view our world with new eyes. Mrs. Van Cleave helped to develop my artistic direction. At the University of Arkansas, I focused on Printmaking and Photography. Graduation led to a job as copy camera technician for a local lithography firm. This position allowed me the luxury of saving enough money for the first of several European trips. I spent weeks in England, Italy, Switzerland and France, internalizing art and architecture I’d previously only seen and read about in my studies. My exposures to these masterpieces continue to inform my work today. In 1981, I took a position as a painter for a Dallas Architectural Illustration firm, working for high profile clients such as Disney, Trammel Crow, HKS, and American Airlines. I was promoted to Art Director and settled into a steady employment that allowed for the financial freedom to continue my love for art, physical fitness, and the outdoors. I pursued triathlons, windsurfing, scuba diving, and kayaking. As eye-opening as my European experiences were for art, my outdoor life has been equally important in shaping the way I portray the analogies and dichotomies of human relationships with the earth. My art work today incorporates the interactions of man and manmade objects with nature to suggest a narrative to be considered or completed by the viewer.