Biography
I am a self taught artist and I have loved drawing before I started gradeschool where I excelled at coloring inside of the lines of a “ditto” copy of a tulip. I still have a memory of the smell of a “ditto” copy.
My father was an artist and I started drawing by mimicking what he was working on. I remember I drew a lot of trees. I started with pencil then onto pen and ink drawings and oils during my teen years. I love creating an image from a blank sheet of paper. In fact, I have never seen a blank piece of paper that did not have an image just waiting to be released.
After graduating high school in 1966 I went to work for Rand McNally as a cartographic technician. It was here that my real artistic training began. I learned about inks, overlays, masking, type faces and fonts, type placement, detailed line work and accuracy. I learned darkroom procedures and about films used for large press format.
While working at Rand McNally I attended Vocational School in Lexington, Kentucky and learned how to operate a copy camera, silk screening and running a 4 color press. I also gained knowledge in the PMS color system and pre-press work. I stayed in this line of work for over 20 years, working for various printing, graphic and mapping companies. I worked for the USGS in Reston, Virginia and then as a private contractor making defense maps.
As the mapping business was changing from manual to digital, I took a 180 degree turn and went to cosmetology school at the ripe old age of 42. Sculpting hair, designing hair with precision cuts and color theory added depth to my visual work. I finally put all of this together when I became the General Manager of a live stage production theatre. From sets design to costumes and wigs to the management of the box office and sales, this rounded out my education in the arts.
I draw what I see, in either my mind or what is in front of me. I draw from postcards, photos, memories and dreams. My work is good, some of it is excellent. Some you will like, others, not so much. My thoughts and hand skills on display for the world to see.
Enjoy the work.
Peace
Dave