It's funny how we remember bits and pieces from our earliest childhood, especially the good flashes of memory. I still recall an incident with a baby-sitter when I was about five years old. I had been coloring in a new coloring book, and the baby-sitter asked me to show her my book. Although nobody ever told me to "stay within the lines", or to try and be "neat", there was some inner mechanism already at work, at that early age. When the baby-sitter saw my coloring, she absolutely refused to believe that I had done it! It must have been done by an "older brother" or "older sister". She simply couldn't believe that a child of five had been so neat, although I insisted that I was the person who did it. This rather maudlin recollection isn't intended to suggest that I was, artistically, an early "prodigy", but that there has always been something in me that appreciates order and precision. As I grew, and an interest in cars and airplanes took hold, as they do for most young boys, I found myself carving cars and planes out of balsa wood. As early as Jr. High School, I had made up my mind that I wanted to design airplanes when I grew up. Although I still loved to draw and paint, my emphasis during my years at Port Huron High School (Michigan), was not on art classes, but rather in drafting. Upon starting classes at St. Clair County Community College, I again stressed engineering classes over art classes, fully intent on transferring to Detroit's Wayne State University, and working toward a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. However, during my first term at Wayne, I took a figure drawing class, and was so highly complimented by the instructor, that I decided to follow that course up with another drawing class during second term. To this day, I'm still not sure how, or why, the enjoyment of drawing and painting took such a hold on me that I resolved to abandon engineering in favor of a much less predictable career in fine arts. If one believes in the "fates", perhaps you could say that it was my karma, my destiny, to become an artist. And, as "success breeds success", the more I saw my work improving, the more dedicated I became to fine arts. By the end of my first year at Wayne State, I had made the irrevocable decision to earn my major in fine arts. Ultimately, I obtained my degree, my BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts), with a specialty in drawing and painting. The rest, as they say, "is history". Without going into an even longer, and more tedious discussion of life's twists and turns since my college days at Wayne, I've continued to work in a highly detailed style. My penchant for precision and accuracy may be in part an extension of my training as a draftsman and engineer, but it's also ingrained in my nature, I suppose. During my days as an art student, instructors constantly were preaching, "loosen up, loosen up"...so I did...until I graduated, at which time I went right back to highly detailed, precise, highly accurate rendering in my drawing and painting. As can also be seen in an examination of my style, I have a particular love of color, the more saturated, and the "prettier" the better. I sometimes have to force myself to tone my palette down, when it looks like I'm doing a Disney cartoon. :-) The decision to focus on portraiture, especially pet portraits, was an easy one to make. I have such a deep love for the animals of our world. I think it could fairly be said that I'm probably more of an "animal person" than a "people person". I have two, adoreable kitties, which I adopted as six week old kittens, and with whom I am seriously "bonded". They are my buddies, and my "family". And, I've been a "nut" about the movies ever since I was a kid, going to Saturday matinees to see a "Double Feature", with a 10 cartoon festival, all for a quarter. Ahhhh, sweet memories. I've been drawing sketches of movie stars as far back as I can remember...there's no doubt in my mind that those many early movie star sketches, began the training and learning on which my "people portraiture" blossomed and grew. This site features portraits, pet portraits, pet portrait, pet portraiture, portrait artist , pet portrait artist, people portraits, dog portraits, pet art, portrait painting, animal portraits, portrait artists, family portrait, and senior portraits.