Like most kids, I grew up doodling and painting my favorite baseball team logos all over my card collection boxes.  When I got to high school and took drafting classes, that creative itch grew stronger, I even painted an underwater mural on some old cabinets out in our barn at the house.  The passion was there from the start.   

Then life happened.  I joined the Coast Guard and traded card boxes for paint rollers, swapping cabinet murals for boat decks and hulls.  While stationed down in Marathon, Florida, my wife and I watched Guy Harvey and Wyland bring the side of the old Kmart to life with on their beautiful massive ocean murals.  I remember turning to Alicia and saying, “I can do that.”  She laughed and told me I was full of it.  Maybe I was, but deep down, I knew I could.  I could see every step of what they were doing, how they built life into every brushstroke and layer.   

Still, I never picked up the brush, at least not until years later.  After retiring from the Police Department, I saw an old lieutenant suggesting acrylic painting as a hobby for anyone looking for something new.  I figured, why not?  I grabbed some brushes, a few tubes of paint... and haven't put them down since.