About the Artist

Born: Detroit MI, 1946

Married:  Wife: Elizabeth Stewart, 3 children, 5 grandchildren

US Army: 1968-1971

Education:  BFA Mercy College, Detroit MI 1972

                    MFA Wayne State University, Detroit MI 1997

I have lived and worked in the Detroit area all my life.  I have been with the automobile industry for most of my life. I have worked for each of the big three automakers and retired from General Motors in 2005.

I have been a fine art painter for fifty years.  The art that I produce is a reflection of the world around me.  I am very much a regionalist painter.  The people I've worked with, the environment I live in and the issues that surround my life are the inspirations for my art making.  

My work is figuratively expressionistic.  I follow the dictates of the early German Expressionist painters.  I try to create paintings that invite the viewer in.

I became a widower in 2008 when my first wife Judy passed away.  I remarried in 2011 to Elizabeth Stewart and we have a farm in Mason Michigan.

I am still painting, and am represented by the Waterstreet Gallery in Saugatuck Michigan and the Wheaton Gallery in Mason Michigan.  The Wheaton features my artwork on their website. In a book, “The Coney’s of Detroit”, I am highlighted for my reputation as a Detroit artist who has painted a number of the Coney islands in the city of Detroit.

Now with my extended family, I have had the opportunity to travel all around Canada, most notably Ontario. It is here I have been able to enjoy the countryside and the peacefulness it brings. The farming community of southwest Ontario ( St. Jacobs region ) was the inspiration behind many of my works. 

A Few Notables…

Alice Neel, the painter, was the juror at a show at a Birmingham Gallery I was in and awarded my painting the grand prize and bought it…ego boost #1

I created an impromptu sketch sketch of an idea for a new Impala logo in 1967…GM used my original sketch to develop their new logo and it is still used today. Nine years after I drew the logo King Laney, who received that proposal at GM, sought me out and hired me.  I worked for General Motors for 30 years…  Ego boost #2

Doumichelle’s auction house in Detroit auctioned off custom doghouses done by area artist built to benefit the ASPCA.  The auctioneer bought my house.