Do you ever do things for free?

No. Glad we could get that out of the way. I have spent 35 years working for others, using skills I worked hard to develop. After all those years, my pension, such as it is, is not enough to live on. My options were (1) to continue teaching a few more years, but public school teachers are not the best paid employees and kids seem to never stay home when they’re sick. I’ve had pneumonia twice in the last five years. That’s something that is eventually going to get me, so, no, not a great idea to stay in that environment. (2) Go work in the things I have done before, art direction or graphic design. There’s a reason I was teaching for the last 15 years so not a great thing for me to go back to. (3) Get a job outside of the arts. But I have about 45 years experience in the arts, shouldn’t that give me the best opportunity for a wage higher than minimum? So (3) leads me to what I am doing. I have these skills, learned at the feet of masters and developed over and refined over a 40 plus year career and I have something to offer. So this is something I love, and something I am good at. So here we are.

But these are god-given skills, can’t you give something back?

For more than 40 years I have been working and learning and refining these “god-given skills” and over the years I have given plenty back. And I continue to do so, but I prefer to make choices based on my own interests. To speak a little further on this subject, my own personal feeling is everyone can draw. In fact I am certain of it. So God gives you potential and relies on you to develop it. I can sing too (or could). I chose to develop my art skills at some expense of time and money. And given my hometown, which bills itself as “the city of churches” I am frequently asked to donate because of my “god-given skills”.

Can I pay online?

Not yet. That will be one of the next things I will look at adding to the site, but right now it isn’t possible yet.

Do you take commissions outside of the predominantly child age portraits you show here?

Absolutely. I’ll do your pets, an extended family, or an immediate family, and I’m really good with buildings, so your home, or a family home . I can draw or paint most anything if I have a good resource image to work from.

How long does it take you to deliver?

It all depends on the subject matter. I’ll be happy to look over your photos and tell you how long I estimate. The large graphite collage portraits are not an overnight thing. Maybe ten to twelve days. Egg tempera, even longer. My best advice is figure out when you need it and I can look at that and count my way backwards to determine if it can be done. I’d give two weeks minimum as a guess.