My desire to confirm reality through drawing  began as a boy growing up near the then small town of Clinton, Mississippi. After my family moved to Tupelo, Mississippi, when I was sixteen, I continued to draw and paint.

At Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College, I studied sculpture and painting  with Lawrence Anthony. His guidance made me think a life as an artist was possible. I took a freighter to Europe with a friend at the age of nineteen. Visiting numerous museums, as I hitchhiked through seven countries, only strengthened my desire to be an artist. I returned to college, then transferred to the Memphis College of Art, and received a B.F.A. degree in 1968.

I eventually moved to Boston and found work as a free-lance scenic artist. I worked primarily with the scenic department at WGBH Television, a PBS affiliate. My work included building, painting and occasionally designing sets for television and film productions. The work has had a significant effect on my art.

In 1976 I moved to Seattle. The first few years there I ran a book store with a partner. I developed a small gallery within the store and exhibited both contemporary and vintage photography. During that period I became steeped in the history of photography. This additional knowledge has proved invaluable to me. My fondness for books has continued and I now incorporate them into my art in various ways.

By chance and design, about 1990, I developed a method of painting directly onto grids of photographs. This is my primary method of working today. Traveling to other countries or within the United States, mainly in the South and especially Mississippi, I take photographs which become the primary source of my paintings as well as the subtext upon which the paintings are made.

In 2013 I returned to Memphis and Mississippi where I now live and work.

A resume is available upon request.