Greg Alexander

We are born with certain gifts and if we choose, through dedication and passion those gifts can turn into a talent. I fell in love with drawing in the first grade as I watched my father take a plain white sheet of paper and penciled in a beautiful drawing of two lions resting on a rock. My obsession with drawing and painting had begun.

After high school, I enrolled in an art college. Instead of being impressed with many classes in techniques offered by the college, I felt like I was being pulled farther away from my own personal artistic quest (wildlife art). After one semester of floundering, I walked into the dean of students office and explained my feelings by showing him my portfolio. He looked at my work, paused for a moment and then said, "This school is not for you Greg. You need to keep going on your own, teach yourself as you have been with your reference photography and get out there and be close to the subjects you love to paint." Wow! I have just been granted permission to pursue my talent on my own terms. I left St. Paul for the south shore of Lake Superior and spent the next four years in a remote log cabin. I figured one hundred fifty dollars per month rent was a pretty cheap tuition for my self guided education. Dedication and hard work has now paid off, my career in art has sustained my family and I for over twenty years.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Greg currently makes his home in Ashland, Wisconsin with his wife Gina and two children, Leisha and Marilyn. Greg's source of inspiration is the great outdoors and he enjoys the fact that he as more beautiful scenes that he can paint in a lifetime near his home. His dramatic use of light and his sensitive interpretation have earned him ten state conservation stamps. He was chosen as the 2003 Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Artist of the Year and had sold over two hundred thousand pieces of artwork with the Bradford Exchange. Today he is rightly considered one of the country's finest wildlife artists.