Q. Tell us a little about yourself.

A. "I'm from a manufacturing town in Indiana. Growing up there, Art was not considered a 'real job' so, after serving 4+ years in the Marine Corps, I got my degree in Architectural Engineering. That led to a career in commercial contracting. However, I was always doing something creative and now we live in the Palm Springs area and I'm an Artist selling my art! It's seriously a dream come true for me!" 

Q. How did you get to Palm Springs from Indiana?

A. "I'll give you the short version. (laughter) . We've moved across the country several times. Actually, this is our 39th move since we've been married. When we 'retired', we decided to move to California to be closer to our sons and their families so Palm Springs area was ideal for us. We've always loved the creative feel here and we like the desert."

Q. When did you start ThrogArt... and why?

A. "Officially, it would have been the end of 2018 when I sold my first piece of artwork but ThrogArt didn't come into being until 2019. The 'why' is because of my wife. We were redecorating our condo in Mid-Century Modern style and looking for artwork. She kept dragging me out to look at art and I couldn't find anything that I liked. I kept saying 'I can do better than that' and when she challenged me to do it, I did and was hooked! It was - and is - so much fun! It is such a gift to be able to do what I love and have other people get pleasure from it too!'

Q. How's it going?

A. "It's going so much better than I could have imagined! When friends and neighbors started asking if they could buy a piece, I was blown away! I met some other artists who suggested that I begin with Art Festivals so that's what I did. Our first show was in January 2019 and that first year, we sold 47 art pieces! 2020 started even better! I had some pieces shown in galleries and the shows in Palm Springs, Indio Polo Grounds and Indian Wells in January thru March were amazing! Then COVID changed everything. We are now selling on line through Facebook and the ThrogArt website plus we just signed on with Amazon to sell on their site. We are definitely looking forward to the return of the shows so we can meet fans in person but, for now, we are happy with where we are and how people have reacted."

September 5, 2020