Raised in a musical family that also included a nearby uncle who attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Studied painting and graphic design at the University of Northern Iowa, earning a BA in art. Early career focused on graphic design and art direction until the late 1970's, when painting and design experiences merged into career as illustrator.

As an illustrator, awards have included 26 gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators in New York; also Best-In-Show recognition New York and Los Angeles Illustrators' Exhibitions.

A sampling of clients - Time, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker and Playboy magazines. Also the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, The Sante Fe Opera and Geffen Playhouse plus numerous advertising and design firms. Created the murals featuring famous authors for Barnes and Noble Bookstores nationwide. Has also worked for the NFL and the NBA and was the official artist for the 2002 Kentucky Derby.

One-man shows at the Academy of Art in Cincinnati, The University of the Arts (Philadelphia), Lustare Gallery (New York), Every Picture Tells a Story (Santa Monica), Hartford Art School (CT), Art Institute of Sothern California (Laguna Beach), The Kentuckey Derby Museum, Creation Gallery in Tokyo and The Pablo Neruda Cultural Center-Bagnolet (Paris) France.

Group shows include: The Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA), The Chicago Art Institute, The Museum of American Illustration (NY), School of Visual Arts (NY), The McNay Art Museum - San Antonio, Mystic Seaport Museum (CT) and Librarie Nicaise in Paris.

Lectures and seminars - Smithsonian (Washington, DC), Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC), Art Center College of Design (Pasadena), Art Institute of Southern California (Laguna Beach), Academy of Art (San Francisco), San Jose State University, Ringling School of Art (Sarasota), Hallmark Cards (Kansas City), Rhode Island School of Design, Societies of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles, The Chicago Art Institute, The Norman Rockwell Museum and the Montreuil Book Fair in Paris.

Extended teaching and workshhops include The Illustration Academy (Sarasota), Syracuse University Graduate Program, The Hartford Art School and the University of Northern Iowa.

Inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame - 2007.

I am proud to be among, in the words of Juxtapoz magazine, that "shitload of kick-ass illustrators" employed by Fred Woodward when he was at Rolling Stone.