I was born in southern New York in 1949, which makes me, by birthright if nothing else, a New York artist. That claim didn't last long. My family moved to San Bernardino, California in 1953, and we stayed restless from there — a couple of years back in New York in 1961–62, where I first found art through my uncle Richard Agard, a painter, and through watching Jon Gnagy's early television broadcasts out of New York City.
By 1962 we were back in San Bernardino for good, or as good as it got. I studied art through high school there under a genuinely great teacher, Les Nielsen, and after graduating in 1967 my family took a vacation to Oregon and simply stayed. I enrolled at Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University), married Deanne Jones in 1974, and earned both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in art. I went on to teach art in community colleges and high schools until I retired in 2007, and along the way I showed work in more than 250 galleries and museums.
Retirement didn't mean staying put. We moved to Louisville, Kentucky to be near our grandchildren, and I spent a couple of years painting the Kentucky landscape. Then, in keeping with family tradition, we followed our oldest son Nathan and the grandchildren to St. Albans, Vermont, where I painted the Vermont countryside for three more years. We've also lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, where — yes — I painted the desert. Today I live in Benton, Arkansas, painting the rivers and streams here. Between all of it, I think it's fair to say I've painted America.
All paintings are acrylic on canvas.