Tom's Biography

As an avid lover of the beauty inherent in the outdoors and the natural world, I'm convinced that heaven abounds with trout streams cascading from rugged snow-capped mountain peaks.

I am equally fascinated with both oils and watercolor and regularly switch from one to the other. I am currently pursuing several themes in representative, plein air, and abstract styles. Primarily my focus is the American landscape-western skies meeting the earth, with natural and man-made features joining the two. I am captivated with western wildlife-above and below the waterline and with the debris and detritus of fallen leaves, and twigs-pine needles and cones found lying amid stones and branches. And too, flowering plants in all their myriad varieties of value, color, shape and form.

Having been raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation and several cattle ranches in Colorado and New Mexico. I resided in the Southwest for six decades but now call Montana home. I have become intimately acquainted with the American West's picturesque landscape and heritage. This experience is expressed in scenes of the Southwestern desert and Northwestern mountain landscapes. My experiences are communicated through sure, confident brushstrokes; sometimes sparing; other times rich glazes and overlays of color upon color; at times fearlessly dark; other times bright and luminous; yet always resulting in a works of unparalleled charm and delight.

I first emerged as a serious painter in 1960 and have exhibited in galleries throughout the west. My work is owned and displayed by collectors, corporations, and academic institutions across the nation. After an extended hiatus pursuing a successful career as a graphic designer and publisher, I have again picked up brush and palette to express a love of color, shape, form, and texture on paper and canvas. The size and scope of my work ranges from works as small as several square inches to some as large as 4' x 6'. The challenge of painting watercolors and oils of such scope and size presents an ability to apply color in bold broad brush strokes yet to also allow the work to retain an intimate interaction with the subject resulting in singularly fresh, bold, rich and supremely glorious works.