“My heroes have always been cowboys…….”

Growing up with Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Hopalong laid the foundation for my love for and curiosity about the dress, faces, and activities of the west of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Using photographs (old and new) for inspiration, I try to paint a feeling and/or action with pencils with pencils – either graphite or colored, not brushes. Besides western characters I also incorporate desert wildlife into my drawings. I have ready subjects to photograph outside my studio door located in Cave Creek on a hill overlooking Grapevine Wash. Working in a very representational style, my intent is to give the viewer a sense of nostalgia, curiosity, humor, peaceful reflection and inspiration.

I had no art classes until I attended college at the Minneapolis College of Arts and Design, majoring in Industrial Design and minoring in sculpture. After spending five years with McDonnell Douglas as a technical illustrator, I settled into a life in sales of electrical products and abandoned serious art for nearly 20 years. In about 1991 I started painting (in acrylics) until a client said she thought I should try working in pencil because of the detail I put in my paintings. After only a couple of pieces, I was hooked.

In May 2006, I was awarded first place in the drawing category at the Phippen Western Art Show in Prescott, AZ. I was awarded third place in the drawing category at the same show in May 2005. Before coming to the Foothills area in 1996, I lived in St. Louis for 25 years and belonged to three art organizations, entered many juried competitions and won numerous awards for my paintings. My artwork has been purchased for corporate and private collections in Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Ohio, Alabama and Oregon.