New Portraits

Summer Morning at Findlay Market, 8x10 oil on panel

I have enjoyed drawing and painting all my life. That is why I decided to attend The Art Academy of Cincinnati after graduating from high school. During my third year at The Art Academy I decided I wanted to be an illustrator, and the next year I taught myself how to use an airbrush. It wasn't long before I was known as an accomplished airbrush illustrator. In 1982 I opened Air Studio, Inc. in Cincinnati, with my partner Dave Miller. We were in business together for the next 18 years, even publishing an instructional book, Dynamic Airbrush, in 1987.

During those years I would occasionally do oil paintings. I really admired the works of traditional painters such as Sargent, Duveneck and Leighton. Painting with oils was a welcome break from cutting friskets and cleaning clogged airbrushes. I also wondered when I would get around to painting the things that I wanted instead of products for clients.

In 2003 I decided it was time to do more oil paintings. I started by doing a series of European landscapes from slides I had shot years before in hopes of some day painting. I also started plein air (outdoor) painting, something I admired when I saw others doing it, but was hesitant to try myself. I also began painting portraits of family members and received commissions for other portraits. Oil painting now makes up the majority of my work.