Biography

Growing up in Nebraska in the sixties, it was natural to begin ardent hunting at a young age, as the game birds abounded. Pheasants, quail, sharptail and prairie chicken were all abundant. I had my first Brittany by fourteen and by sixteen was raising and selling Brittany's and training them as the owners brought them back for education. My education in art at that time was limited to my own sketching and after school instruction by a college professor.

I earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biology where I learned a great deal about anatomy, physiology, behavior, habitats, and more. My Masters project was a study of Bobwhite quail using pointers to evaluate population dynamics. I continued to train outside dogs all along.

Eventually training full time for Amateur Field Trial handlers, I continued to develop field trial and gun dogs until the early nineties when I returned to Nebraska to help with a family business.

I began to reinvest myself in art in 1993, with my second painting receiving Honorable Mention in the Nebraska habitat Stamp contest. I continued to develop my painting, eventually exhibiting in the prestigious Nebraskaland Days Governor's Western and Wildlife Art Show. National Wildlife Federation also used one of my paintings for a Christmas card design.

In the spring of 2008, I made the decision that the time was right to bring the three driving forces of my life together to make Sporting Dog Art.

My extensive Biology education, thirty years of professional dog training, and sixteen years developing my painting skills come together to give me a very unique perspective on sporting dogs, and a realistic style which expresses the rich environment, as well as the physical characteristics and the mental character of great sporting dogs.