Keith’s interest in art began in middle school where he took a one semester art exploration class. He found that he had some talent in the matter and more importantly the desire to continue learning. This led him to take advantage of a four year art program at Henry County High School in Georgia. Keith received an excellent education in the fundamentals of design, art history, and an understanding of the various mediums of art under the instruction of Amy Bodle. Furthermore, Ms. Bodle worked to expand her students understanding of art by inviting local artists to give demonstrations in class. This is when Keith meet a lifelong mentor and friend, Charles Walls. In addition to classes in high school, Keith began taking private lessons with Mr. Walls. The private lessons filled some of the gaps that high school instruction couldn’t provide such as lessons in oil paints and figure studies. Part of the education provided by Ms. Bodle included public exhibitions and art competitions. It was during one of these art competitions that Keith won first place and a scholarship to attend Gordon College in Barnesville, GA.
Keith continued his education at Gordon College under the instruction of Marlin Adams. The instruction provided by Mr. Adams focused on painting still-lifes with oils. After two years at Gordon, Keith had a firm understanding of working with oils and the value of working from life rather than from photographs. Graduating from Gordon College with an Associate of Arts, he then continued his education with a Hope Scholarship at Georgia State University. At GSU he had more freedom to explore his own artistic point of view but found that his love was with representational art. To complicate matters, it was during the two years at GSU that Keith developed a severe allergy to the chemicals used in oil painting. After two years at GSU he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree, but somewhat disillusioned by the fact that he couldn’t work in the medium for which he had been trained.
Shortly after graduating from college, Keith began working as an assistant to a comic book inker by the name of Drew Geraci. At the time, Mr. Geraci was working primarily with DC comics with what is known as the Bat Office. The Bat Office is the department of DC comics that oversees comics in the Batman universe of stories. One of the advantages of working with Mr. Geraci was some on-the-job training with a new medium: pen and ink. Under the direction of Mr. Geraci, Keith learned the value of a steady hand and a meticulous care for the quality of your work; but the most important lesson learned was the importance of self-motivated work habits, a necessity when you work from home.
It was during this time that Keith started to explore other painting options outside of oils. After some experimentation, he started to fall in love with the properties of acrylics; which can mimic watercolor or oils if they are handled correctly. Acrylics as a medium hasn’t been around for very long. They didn’t get much use by professional artists until at least the 1970s, as such they are still a somewhat unexplored art form. The most common complaint about acrylics is that they tend to have a plastic appearance, which is not surprising considering that they are essentially pigmented liquid plastic. Keith was able to overcome this problem through an understanding of the chemical and physical properties of the paint.
Keith has an avid interest in physics and astronomy and has learned much about art by studying the intricacies of light science. He has great admiration for scientist/artists like Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Georges Seurat, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking , and M.C. Escher to name a few. While these people were giants of their time Keith is most inspired by those artists and teachers he has had the fortune to know personally throughout his life.
Keith is married to Marcy House, and together have two children. Marcy is a Foreign Service Officer with the State Dept. Her job will keep them moving every couple of years to a new destination. Their first post was to Nogales, Sonora in Mexico. Followed by two years in Accra, Ghana in West Africa. Alexandria, Virginia for three years. Back to Mexico for three years, this time in Cuidad Jaurez, Chihuahua. They waited out the Corona Virus in Keith’s home town of McDonough, Georgia for a year. They are currently reside in Auckland, New Zealand.