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Home > About The Artist
Mark has loved
and done art all his life. Throughout his
elementary and middle
school years he was fortunate to have
attended a parochial school in California
that had a good art program. There he was
exposed to good drawing
technique, projects from life and the caring
guidance of a teacher he
remembers fondly. This initial experience
set in motion a lifetime habit of
keeping a sketchbook on hand and constantly
drawing in the moment.
While serving in
the U.S. Air Force, at his first duty
station in Southern
California Mark encountered artists who
placed their primary emphasis on the
human form as subject matter. They were
classical realists, dedicated to the
study of human anatomy and working from
life. Their approach to art rang true
with Mark; as a result, portraiture becoming
a natural means of expression.
During his following tours of duty, friends
, associates and fellow workers
recognized Mark's talent and respected him
as a serious artist. Special duty
assignments such as, small commissions;
being hired to do quick charcoal
portraits of people at their birthday
parties; special duty to design a squadron
patch, or a stint to do an architectural
rendering of a proposed building for the
base newspaper regularly came his way.
After completing
his military service, Mark attended Lee
University in
Cleveland Tennessee as a ministerial
student. He received a BA in Biblical
Education. While at college he continued his
ongoing training. Making
himself visible, as before, got him
recognized and used for commissions,
promotional projects and -- in particular --
the 1981 cover-art for the
college yearbook.
Currently, Mark
resides in the Atlanta area of Georgia where
he has been
since after his college years. As a juried
member of the Portrait Society of
Atlanta, Mark works full time doing
portraiture as well as other subject
matter.
Of particular
note: Mark owned horses for many years and
enjoyed
endurance riding. As a horse person he spent
many enjoyable hours
hanging out on farms drawing and painting
that environment. His
on-the-spot sketching was praised by those
around him and always
resulted in horse portraits. |
