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About the artist:
I was born 1944 in Mississippi, but grew up in the Panama
Canal Zone. I Graduated Balboa High School and enlisted in
the U. S. Navy, to become a Photographer. After five years,
I left active duty and gained employment with the Charleston
Police Department, Charleston, West Virginia, as a photographer.
After six months I became a sworn police officer and after completing the West Virginia State Police
Academy Basic Course, I entered West Virginia State University and graduated with a Bachelor of
Science Degree in Criminal Justice. I remained with Charleston Police Department for eleven years
achieving the rank of sergeant.
In late 1981, my father got sick and I left the police department and I moved to Baldwin County,
Alabama, to take care of him. I spent the next year, physically building our home on the Bon Secour
River. My father got well, but I stayed on, working as a carpenter. In 1984 I went to work for George
Nelson, a duck carver, in Foley, Alabama, who taught me the art of woodburning. My brother made me
an adjustable woodburner that allowed me to make wood burned drawings with lines as fine as a razor
blade. I discovered I could draw and began to draw scenes around the fishing and shrimping
community of Oyster Bay, where I lived. By the end of the year, I realized that I needed to continue
the law enforcement career I had begun 14 years before, and in 1985, I became a Deputy Sheriff with
the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and again worked up to the rank of sergeant. After 22 Years, I
retired and decided to do something with all the drawings I had made during my career with the Sheriff's
Office.
In 2004, I started Nautical Artistry and have my gallery in my home. My drawings have been shown in
numerous juried Art Festivals:
Memphis, Tennessee, Clearwater Beach, Florida, Pensacola, Florida, and the 2005 National Shrimp
Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama. I am presently showing at Jan's Art Studio and the Performing Arts
Center in Foley Alabama, and the Pleasure Island Art Association in Orange Beach, Alabama. I still
draw every day, and have new work coming out on a continuing basis.
