In rural Ohio, where I grew up, there was little direct art instruction available; correspondence courses were a good alternative. The work of one of the founders of the Famous Artist Course, Harold Von Schmidt, and the text he wrote for the course, had a great impact on my art.

After nine years in the military, I studied at the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles at night and worked as an illustrator during the day. Eventually we settled in Dallas, where I worked as an illustrator fpr Vought Aeronautics, continuing to paint in the evenings and on the weekends, all the while selling my work in the local art galleries. After about eight years and a couple of successful one-man shows, I was able to devote full time to easel painting as of January 1977. We later moved to Kerville, Texas, where we still reside.

My choice of western subject matter is the result of a lifelong fascination with the life of the cowboy and the drama of opening and development of the American West. I was elected to membership in the Cowboy Artists of America in 1984.