Drawing and painting have always been a part of my life from an early age. In junior high school I won my first cash award in an art show. My high school art instructor, Ron Leatherwood, inspired me to continue painting and drawing at every opportunity. After graduating from OCU with an English degree, I studied the craft of painting for several years with Claude V. Anderson, a locally known portrait and landscape artist. Between 1987 and 1998 I participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Oklahoma and Texas, notably the first Oklahoma Painting Biennial in 1991.
