I have always been an artist.
I was about ten years old, I had been given an artist's paint set and a few canvases for Christmas or a birthday, I can't remember. I was struggling with making the brushes do what was in my mind's eye, and my father walked past the room. "Let me see that," he said, and taking a brush full of paint, took a brand new white canvas and painted a large "5" right in the middle of the white board. "That's all you need to know, if you can paint letters and numbers you can sell your work as a signpainter." This was the first time I thought about commercial art.
Finely crafted letters and numbers are art.
I was headed for a career in technical illustration--the line drawings that show exploded views of parts and assemblies, when I took a part-time job with a small, one-man sign shop in Wichita, Kansas. That launched a life-long affection for the craft of beautiful writing, and signs. I apprenticed for two years, then found myself self-employed at the age of 20. For the next 13 years I made my living painting signs.
In 1997 I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take a job as an in-house graphic artist for a non-profit organization that had never had an in-house graphic artist, and moved to a time where I didn't do as much hand-lettering, but created all manner of printed publications on the computer.
Since that time to the present I use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop nearly every day. I paint and pinstripe nearly every day. I have done a fair amount of motion graphics and video shooting and editing as well. I have done some sculpture too. I have worked for myself, freelance for individuals, worked in Europe and the Middle East, I have worked with small teams in non-profit, and several years at a Fortune 500 Corporation with 9,000 employees.
I bring 35 years of experience into each job, and give every client the same amount of dedication and focus, whether it is an individual putting some pinstriping on his motorcycle, a couple needing a sign for their small business, a 50 employee company needing a new or revised logo, Hand-lettering a show sign for a $100,000 car, or a million-dollar corporation needing top-shelf custom printed and foil-stamped invitations to a $1,000-a-plate gala.
I won a couple Addy's and a Communicator Award back in 2008, I have designed materials that were used at the Paris Air Show and the Farnborough Airshow. I am fluent in current Industry-Standard design programs, every day I use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premier. I do a lot of lettering, calligraphy, gold leaf, and pinstriping by hand.
I currently live in Florida with my wife of 32 years.