Artist

Biography

I started painting when I was in my 30s. An artist friend brought his oils and blank canvas to our weekly sessions of drinking and hanging out. He liked my feeble efforts and decided he would teach me to draw. I haven't been able to stop since. In addition to my friend starting me on drawing, I also learned a great deal from a class at the Indianapolis Museum of Art called sketching in the galleries. Apart from that I'm entirely self-taught.
I work primarily in pastel. There's something about the feel of the stick in my hand touching the paper that I don't get from a brush.
I also prefer to paint plein air. Even my still lifes are usually painted outdoors. I love to travel and I take my pastels everywhere I go, watching for someplace to set up and paint. Being somewhat asocial, you'll usually find my easel set up out in the countryside or along a trail in the woods, preferably near a stream.
I live in Indianapolis in the house where I was born and that my parents built with their own hands. I run the Herron alumni figure drawing group at Herron School of Art on Tuesday evenings despite never having taken a class there.