My Journey as an Artist

I was eleven years old when I first fell in love with oil painting. During the summers of 1969 and 1970, I studied with Beulah Tinsley, who taught me how to mix oils—a lesson that has stayed with me ever since.

As I continued exploring art, pencil drawing became an important foundation for the way I see. Working without color taught me to study light and shadow, lines, angles, expression, and drama. Pencil trained me to look closely and understand how light gives a subject its form. That discipline continues to influence my oil paintings today.

Photography later expanded the way I observe the world. A camera allows me to preserve a moment, study it carefully, and return to it as a source of inspiration. Many of my paintings begin with photographs, including images I have taken myself. Photography has taught me to recognize composition, timing, and the small details that can transform an ordinary scene into a compelling subject.

For nearly forty years, however, I struggled to make time for oil painting. During that period, I completed only a couple dozen paintings. Then, in 2022, I made a decision that changed the direction of my artistic life: I committed to painting every Wednesday at Don Edwards’ “Nature’s Art Gallery.”

That commitment became a turning point. Returning to painting on a regular basis reignited a passion that had never truly disappeared. It also gave me a deeper appreciation for how my earlier experiences with pencil and photography prepared me for oil painting. Pencil taught me to understand structure and light; photography had taught me to capture and compose a moment; oil painting gave me the freedom to bring those observations to life through color, texture, and brushwork.

That same year, I discovered the Shreveport Photographic Society. I attended my first meeting, quickly became immersed in photography again, and was honored when one of my photographs was selected as Best Photo of the Year. The recognition encouraged me to continue developing photography alongside painting rather than treating the two as separate pursuits.

Today, I move between painting, drawing, and photography, allowing each medium to shape the others. Drawing sharpens my observation, photography preserves the moments that inspire me, and painting allows me to interpret those moments with color and emotion.

In 2024, I was honored to be selected as Artist of the Year for the Toledo Bend Bass Unlimited Poster Contest. I continue to create work in all three mediums, following the subjects that capture my attention and looking for ways to help others see something familiar from a new perspective.

My journey is a reflection of a lifelong love of creating—and of the belief that it is never too late to return to the art you love.