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All through school I'd basked in the glory of being “The School Artist”. That came to a screeching halt in high school when the art teacher discovered I was a band geek. “You can't be in both band and art!” he declared. So I quit art in a huff. I majored in music out of spite and didn't pick up a brush for over 15 years. Then somebody loaned me a book that changed my life: “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards. Seeing the dramatic improvements by high school kids, I thought Huh! If they can do it, SO CAN I! I did every exercise religiously and voila! by the end of the book I realized I could draw! By this time I'd quit my gig as a saxophonist in a road band and was working on the Line at Ford Motor Company's Wixom Assembly Plant. If it hadn't been for that great job (with great pay) I never could have afforded to fly out West and study with some of the best artists, such as Robert Bateman, Clyde Aspevig and Janet Fish.

 

I learned oil painting starting back around 1986, taking a plein air workshop in Scottsdale from Clyde Aspevig. He was the best teacher ever. The first still life I ever did was when I was out in Colorado. I'd set up to do a landscape but heard a rumble behind me - and saw a gigantic storm rolling in fast. I barely made it to the safety of the barn in time. It was July but it was snowing! I painted a horse saddle. 

 

Now happily retired from the rat race, I do what I like, painting and gardening with my three cats.

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