Appalachian Grove Painting

I'm a retired master of many trades. My first love and goal was to become an artist. In my last year or high school, I had three different art classes. I won the art, arts and crafts and industrial arts awards and was counseled to go to college for art. Growing up on a farm in Ohio and being from a humble country background made higher education for me only a wish. After high school I went to work as an artist for a display company in Charlotte N.C. I designed and built stage backgrounds too. I worked there for about five years and as a young married man in his twenties expecting a child I struggled to survive. I stopped and entered the sheet metal trade. As a craftsman I did pattern development and fabrication using plain geometry and trigonometry. In the 1980 I went to college to study business and major in computers. While there I got some financial support from doing art shows in the malls and architectural renderings. A real struggle! I also began to develop an interest in photography both for profit and as an expressive art form. Today I'm in my late seventies, retired and can pursue my love of art and photography. Although not formally taught in any of the schools for higher learning, I have over 60 years of experience in photography, metal sculpture, fine art and digital art. The greatest reward one can receive for his craft is not a red ribbon or title but for someone to be willing to part with his hard earned money to have what you have worked to create. I'm an old beginner this is the beginning.