I was born on a small farm in Southeastern South Dakota in 1949. We lived about 50 miles from Sioux Falls. I was one of seven children, three brothers and three sisters. When I was seven, we moved to Sioux Falls where my dad got a job as a mechanic for Caterpillar. When I was fifteen our family moved to Spokane,Washington, where I finished my high school education and graduated in 1967. I went on to college and graduated from Spokane Falls Community College in 1973, with an Applied Arts Degree and a Commercial Art Degree. Other than two years in Pennsylvania, I have continued to live in Spokane since my graduation from college. I remember, when I must have been quite young, watching my older brother Greg draw. He was good. In the third grade our teacher taught us perspective, how to make a road go back and disappear into the mountains. I never forgot how to do that. When I was seven or eight years old, our family took a trip to Wisconsin to visit a friend of my Dad’s. He was a professional watercolorist. I remember the drive through the woods, walking up to his front door, through the entry, looking up at the walls as soon as I entered the house. I wanted to see his paintings. Randy Penner. I’ll never forget that name or that trip and the influence it had on me.
In Junior High I took some art, mechanical drawing, and enjoyed it. I wrote a career paper on becoming an artist but never really thought that it was possible. In college I decided to major in physical education since I considered an art major unrealistic. The second year I switched to a commercial art major since the community college had a good graphics program. It was during the three years of training to become a commercial artist that I took watercolor. My first watercolor class I got a “C”. The worst grade I had ever received in any art class. I was required to take it again the following year and it went much better. Not only did I get an “A”, but I fell in love with it. I started selling my paintings before I graduated for as little as $2. In the fall of 1973 I had made a decision to try to make a living as a full time, professional watercolorist and have managed to do that now for more than forty years. Along with painting, I started teaching watercolor in 1976, with little teaching experience. Improving my teaching skills, I now enjoy teaching nearly as much as painting, teaching weekly classes here in Spokane and workshops around the world. However, most of my time is spent in my studio painting, hoping never to retire.
Awards & Exhibitions
2023 November/ Patriots Art Foundation/ USS Yorktown/ Charleston, SC/ Mary Whyte-Stan Miller Presentation for Veterans
2023 Plein Air Salon/Plein Air Magazine Painting Competition/ Best Watercolor
2022 International Watercolor Masters Exhibition/Lilleshall, England/May 16-29
2019 Second Place / Southwest Art Magazine Painting Competition
2018 First Place Portraiture / Global Association of Watercolorists, International Competition
2018 Juror of Awards (3 judges) The American Watercolor Society International Exhibition in New York City.
2018 151st American Watercolor Society International Exhibition, NY, NY.
2017 The Landscape, 3 artists exhibition, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, Washington
2017 150th Anniversary American Watercolor Society International Exhibition, New York, NY
2016 Quindao International Watercolor Exhibition, Quindao, China
2015 First Place Award (portrait/figure), The Artist’s Magazine International Competition
2015 World Watercolor Exhibition-Hanoi, Vietnam
2014 World Watercolor Competition & Exhibition-Narbonne, France
2014 World Watermedia Exposition and Exhibition, Bangkok, Thailand
2013 American Watercolor Society Exhibition, NY, NY
2011 Best in Show, Art in the Pearl, Portland, Oregon
2011 Third Place, Landscape – The Artist’s Magazine National Competition
2010 American Watercolor Society Exhibition, NY, NY
2009 The Artist’s Magazine National Competition, Third Place for portrait, “Nick’s Gaze”
2008 Carol Duke Artist Award of Excellence-Bellevue Arts Museum Art Fair-Bellevue, Washington
2008 Best of Show-Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Artfest Spokane, Washington
2006 Grand Prize in the Watercolor Magic Magazine National Competition, August Issue
2004 First Place award in The Artist’s Magazine 21st Annual National Art Competition
2004 American Watercolor Society Membership
2002 American Watercolor Society, Desser Memorial Award, New York, New York
1997 Sausalito Arts Festival, San Francisco, California
1986 Museum of Native American Cultures Western Art Show, Best of Show, Spokane, Washington.
1985 National Western Art Show, Best of Show, Ellensburg,
1980 Charles and Emma Frye Museum (solo exhibition), Seattle, Washington
1979 Charles M. Russell Memorial Museum (solo exhibition), Great Falls, Montana
Education
Associate in Applied Science, Professional Diploma in Art
Spokane Falls Community College 1973
Periodicals
2024 Streamline Publishing. Watercolor Portraits video / Journey to Venice-Painting Venice video
2023 Beneath Your Beautiful Magazine Issue 11/Sep-Oct/Digital Mag.
2022 Realism Today / Portrait of Emotion / Digital magazine / June
2022 International Watercolor Society Magazine / 14th issue
2020 Inlander Magazine, Home and Health / Spokane, WA / December issue
2019 Masters of Portrait / Diverti Editions 2019 / Pratique Arts
2018 Masters of Watercolor (Russian Publication / Book / Konstantin Sterkhov)
2017 July / Paint and Draw Magazine
2017 April/May, (cover) International Artist Magazine
2015 June, The Artist’s Magazine
2014 November, L’Art de L’Aquarelle (French Art Magazine)
2013 September, The Art of Watercolor (French Art Magazine)
2013 Spring Issue / Artists on Art Magazine (online)
2010 Practique Des Arts / L’Art De L’Aquarelle (French Art Magazine)
2008 December, The Artist’s Magazine
2005 December, The Artist’s Magazine
2005 American Artist, September