I am an "APO Native" Vermonter (born to Vermont parents on active military duty out of state) a unique designation invented and bestowed by Governor Dean Davis in 1968. Growing up in Vermont I did all of the usual Norman Rockwell things rural Vermont kids did, even including attending one day at the West Bolton one-room schoolhouse. Able to draw preternaturally well from a very young age, I was sometimes in trouble for drawing pictures in class instead of listening. My fifth grade art teacher, Mr. Kennedy, was the first person to tell me that I could become a professional. But science seemed to win out.

 

Inspiring exasperated eye-rolls from my maternal grandfather in Proctor, Vermont, I found the critters and habitats of the shoreline microcosms vastly more interesting than barbing some hapless worm on a hook. That is, in essence, what led me to a degree in biology. However, my lab drawings led to illustrating for professors, and ... upon graduation, I headed for NYC with the goal of becoming the "Audubon of Bugs." After 16 years as a freelance advertising artist (the biological illustrations didn't pay well), in 1994, I returned to Vermont with two brilliant young daughters and plunged headlong into wildlife art.

 

After years on the national art show circuit, I started a series of 20 wilderness art expeditions from Labrador - Alaska during which I moved back to West Bolton and captured a beautiful Canadian in Montreal.  Bonnie and I now live with the treasured beaver pond of my youth, Preston Pond, in the backyard.