I was born and raised in Kansas; right in the geographic middle of our country. I grew up in a very small town, 1100 people in fact. The population of that town; Moundridge, is now 1200 and it still looks pretty much the same now as it did when I grew up there. When I was in the third grade we moved 6 miles down the road (hi-way 81) to the big town of Hesston. Current residents number about 2500. That’s where I began drawing and in the third grade I was able to draw what I saw with relative accuracy for my age and ability.

 

In the fourth grade my dad moved our family to Mexico. Missouri! I can remember it was my first exposure to Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts characters. I began duplicating those characters from that comic strip with incredible accuracy (of course they were very easy characters to draw). At this point I became serious about drawing. Almost everything I drew at that time involved one or more of the Peanuts Gang.

 

We lived in Mexico until my dad was forced to look for a new job a year later. This took us to where I would live out my teen years and early adult life; St. Charles, Missouri. I still remember moving onto the house we bought in a subdivision that only had a handful of homes. It was so cold that January day I think I may have gotten frostbite. The movers left the door open to our house all day and the furnace, if it was on, could not keep up.

 

After settling in to a new home, a new school, and a new routine; I began to pay close attention in art classes and did very well in everything requiring creativity and a pencil. It was at this school that I was told by my sixth grade teacher to quit wasting paper with my drawing. I won’t mention her name but I still remember what it was. That was one of the worst school years I ever had; I wanted to be creative and she wanted me to be serious. REALLY! I could not see the purpose of education and I only wanted to draw and spend time with friends.

 

However, seventh grade was very different. I an art class where all we did was create; Mrs. North was the teacher and it was my favorite. I would arrive early and stay late, receiving A’s on almost every project. I believe that some of my fellow students may have helped themselves to some of my work from that class.

By the ninth grade I was able to do pencil renderings better than the rest of the art students. Mr. A (Alvers) my ninth grade art instructor was my favorite teacher, ever. He encouraged me to draw and when he brought in a picture to show (me) the class of the back view of what looked like a McLaren race car, I found my favorite subject material. Followed closely by my second favorite, girls! Once I saw the detail in that automobile I realized the challenge to draw them accurately. I was up to the challenge! From that point on my focus was to draw automobiles of every size, shape, model, etc…, my favorite automotive subject; the race car.

 

Through high school I drew many things besides cars (because the curriculum dictated the subject material), but I still spent time at home drawing the thing I loved most. Sometimes I drew on the floor, sometimes at the table. I guess my parents finally decided I should have a place to draw and they bought me a drawing table. So now I was tucked away in the corner of my room spending a lot of time with my passion. I thank my parents for not being negative about the amount of time I spent at that table.

 

My high school curriculum allowed me the opportunity to draw cars in the school parking lot even though I was discouraged from doing so. I graduated high school and attended college for a couple of years, but frustration set in and I decided it was better to go to work. I drew occasionally when I wasn’t busy and worked on perfecting my ability to reproduce every detail, accurately. After a few years doing different jobs I landed a job hauling around a show car for a national racing team. This proved to be the best opportunity I ever had for drawing cars. I would go to shows and set up my board and draw different views of the cars until I could draw them in my sleep. I became very familiar with the mechanics of the automobile. Not to work on them but in order to reproduce them on paper.

 

My boss at the time recognized the abilities I displayed and provided an occasional opportunity to draw cars for him and his friends. He was a good artist, too. I began doing the t-shirt designs for the different teams and catalog covers for the items we were selling from the display trailers. I guess I had fulfilled my lifelong dream. Getting paid to draw cars. How cool was that?

 

It was a long journey, at one point I was only drawing to satisfy the needs at Christmas. Focusing strictly on work (between 60-80 hours per week) and raising my youngest son didn’t allow for much time to draw. Between his baseball, education, and the other requirements of child rearing I had no time for anything else.

 

It was at this point in my life that I began attending church regularly. After many years of faithfully following the Lord, he blessed me with my wife Lisa. 

 

Together we are being obedient to His call and focused on the eternal rewards He offers.  I have been blessed to be able to serve God and use the talents He’s given me.  Through this, my wife and I have been able to travel and share the Gospel, many times using the medium of art.

Thank you for supporting us.

 

Greg