Putting On The Ritz Photograph

I have always loved to draw. When I was a kid I use to draw on my school work. I guess I thought the teachers would say "Hey, that is a good drawing." But thats not what happened. The teachers would say "don't be drawing all over your school work" and then I would get red marks on my paper to go along with it. As a young man, life kind of takes over, working and rasing kids, etc., and there wasn't as munch time for art. However, over the years I did do some art. I have done 5 murals in an Oklahoma State building as well as several other places. I worked at a furniture company for a while. I did many custom finishes and matched new pieces to old ones, etc. I have also painted many high end custom kitchens. As a kid I lived on a cattle ranch in S.E. Oklahoma . I was very young and spent all day in the woods winter and summer. There is not much prettier then snow covered woods. This gave me a great love for the outdoors. I even lived on Tenkiller lake for a few years back then. Those are my fondest childhood memories. I have a place on that same lake today. I used to go back packing and kayaking by myself with a sketch pad and a camera. Now I paint, more then I did back then, since I have gotten older. But the love for the outdoors and landscapes is still there. Just more oil and canvas these days. I, of course, have gone back to look at many of the old masters like Renoir, Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh. and went and seen some of their work when an art exhibit was near by. I hope you enjoy my paintings as much as I enjoy painting them.