I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I am presently living in the west central Illinois town of Hamilton. It's a small town next to the Mississippi River. A major migration flyway and the winter roosting ground for the American Bald Eagle.

A graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design with a major in Illustration and a minor in advertising. Staying in Columbus, Ohio I worked for 21 years as an art director in advertising while at the same time tried to work on my painting. Finally coming to the decision that in order to make it as an "artist" I would have to go full time.

A very talented artist friend has made me realize that I had lost some of the creative thought that I had in some of my earlier work. I am now inspired to push my"wildlife art" to another level. My desire is to create powerful images that will be more than just nice paintings.

I work mostly in oil & acrylic paints with my main subject being wildlife. My goal with my art is to capture the "essence" or "spirit" of the subject that I am painting. I want to go beyond portraits of animals. I hope to capture the experience of being in the presence of the subject while also conveying it's personality. It's important to me to capture the subjects natural habitat while at the same time creating an interesting composition and "mood" or "story" for the viewer to experience.

I am currently working on a series of paintings "Birds of Hancock County, Illinois". This collection will be completed in 2015.

I am now in the process of building my studio over looking the Mississippi River. You can see the progress of my studio at http://1-bsf.blogspot.com (stands for #1 best Studio Feature). I'm wanting to find out what other artists favorite feature is about their studio or art work space. Please log on and share any advice as to what makes a great place to create art.