The Artist

People ask me how long I've been drawing and painting, and pretty much it's been ever since I can remember. With the occasional youthful distraction of Barbie dolls, sunny days and, later on, school and tennis matches, my artwork has been my constant.

I graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1990 with a degree in fine arts and hit the job market as a graphic designer. Soon after I started, however, I found myself doing the fine detailed work of a technical illustrator. This was a bit odd, since my degree was in graphic design, but it became apparent that my greatest strength was in illustration. Over the years, my portfolio of work contained fewer and fewer graphic design projects and more and more illustration.

Today, I do a mix of illustration, fine art pet and people portraits and what I would call my own style of painting from the natural world. My art is quite varied, but at its heart you can see I am fascinated with the detail of things—like finding the exact color of a shadow on the snow or trying to capture downy feathers blowing in the wind. I work mostly in watercolor or pen & ink, but I'm looking forward to doing more studied drawings in graphite as well as working with acrylics.