As a young art student, I was already producing portraits, logos, posters, and drawings for folks in my small hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. I also illustrated a children’s book, and did many caricatures for members of the Black Hawk Street Machines, our local car collectors club. My advanced art instruction, albeit limited, came in my 30s under the guidance of Bill Lundquist, professional artist and teacher, at Scottsdale Artists School in Scottsdale, Arizona. I asked Bill to help me transform my stylized nudes from elongated and caricature-ish to truer life forms. The Old Lady, Princess Grace, Andrea Bocelli, and Robert de Niro drawings were done under Bill’s tutoring. I knew I had it in me! A few of my pieces are held by private collectors. I was also retained by the Arizona Opera Ball and The Arthritis Foundation Oscar Night Ritz Carlton Gala, to create pieces for their silent auction fundraisers. Both drawings were successfully bid and sold to benefit the organizations, and I got to enjoy two Cinderella black-tie nights out as thank-you’s! Later, one of my stylized nudes was purchased by the owner of an Italian restaurant in North Scottsdale and was hung on display in the formal dining room – until the restaurant closed a few years ago.

As I was gathering photos for this gallery, I came across some of my drawings from junior high, high school, and my twenties, and decided to include them here, making my gallery more a scrapbook of nostalgia. You can see the sixties and seventies influence in the clothing and hairstyles. The hand-drawn lettering also gives away that these drawings were done long before computerized graphics. Most of the headshot sketches are friends in my art class at West High School, as well as a teacher or two. And the car caricatures are all people in the local car club. I didn’t become an accomplished artist of any distinction, but I do have some moments in memory that I can look back on and brag about now that I’m older.