About Me
I was first interested in drawing as a child. Like most children I would grab a crayon and just start scribbling. But where other kids left off, I continued. I dropped the crayons for a more refined tool; The Pencil. As I grew older my scribbles turned to cartoons. I would spend hours drawing Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang. I guess I was drawn (pardon the pun) to the Peanuts gang because I shared the same last name as their creator (although spelled differently), and I shared a certain affinity for Charlie Brown. Plus I loved dogs and Snoopy was my favorite.
I continued drawing off and on throughout my life but it was never more than a hobby, I never had any formal training. When I was bored and had nothing else to do, or when visiting relatives over the holidays I would pull out a pencil and a sheet of paper and start to doodle.
As I grew older I would try more advanced drawings, trying to push myself to something greater. I would try to draw people, landscapes (some of my favorite subjects were covered bridges). These were okay for what they were, but nothing worthy of a gallery, unless you consider the kitchen fridge a gallery.
On more than one occasion I sent away for the drawing skills test from some art institute that I always saw on the television as a child, hoping that one day they would select me for an art scholarship. But that day never came. (I don’t know how many times I drew that pirate!)
I never had any “formal” training in the arts. I have a natural talent and self taught myself the finer points of realistic graphite drawing through studying several books.
Most of my work has been done as gifts for family (usually because I was broke and could not afford a birthday or Christmas gift) or done for myself for personal enjoyment.
As I studied more and more, and I practiced more and more, the quality of my work continued to improve until it got to the point of what I like to call the “WOW” factor. That’s when people can’t stop looking at what you’ve drawn and just stare at it repeating “Wow!” It was due to this, and the prompting of family and friends, that I decided to go public with my work.
