I can recall the moment in my life when I fell in love with drawing. I was eight years old and home with the flu when my aunt bought some art materials to help me pass the time. These were not the cheap art supplies for children but rather professional quality. I began drawing anything that would hold still. As I entered the Navy, I was copying drawings of the old masters. As I grew, I discovered artists like Paul Hogarth, Allen Cobler, Ed McMahan  to name just a few. These artists drew "on the spot" and they had a freshness and immediacy that appealed to me. From there, I discovered a little book titled "Drawing with Pencils" by Norman Laliberte and Alex Mogelon. Norman Laliberte's drawings weren't about an accurate portrayal of the subject but more about the emotional expression of  the subject. Sometime during my time at the University of Colorado, I discovered the art of Ralph Steadman and saw that the artist could break free of the physical image and express that image as it passes through each artists individual life experences producing something completely new.