my story...

"My drawing talent and photography interests seemed to grow from childhood. Back in those early years we had to make do with the resources we had available. Unable to afford a camera, I began drawing with a simple ball point pen in an attempt to draw as accurately as a photograph.

I was proud to be born and raised in the Mohawk Valley of central New York State where the simple lifestyle and beautiful scenery that surrounded me provided the source of my ongoing inspiration. I attended high school in Ilion, N.Y. where I majored in art while also taking home study art courses from the Art Instruction Schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota. With the support of my parents, George and Norma Hailston, I was fortunate to have attended art school at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y. (1970-1972) where I majored in art and photography. At the time, a ball point pen was not an acceptable media in their required drawing curriculum. After failing my drawing classes, due to my insistence of drawing with a pen, I left school to begin my working career in the newspaper advertising field with the Gannett Rochester Newspapers. My drawings were first exhibited in a city-wide juried annual art exhibit in Rochester while representing Gannett Newspapers (1976-1980). All of the drawings submitted during those years were unanimously voted as Best of Show in each annual exhibit, the originals of which remain in my private collection and can be viewed here on my website. Ironically, the voter jury was headed up by the Dean of the same art school that failed me for drawing with a ball point pen just four years earlier!

Over the years, many art shows and countless ad campaigns later, I have continued on with my drawings and published work. I remain deeply inspired by the beauty of natural surroundings and always remain open to commissioned work. I have learned that the true purpose of artistic talent, as with any artist, is to appreciate and reflect upon what others may not see, so that others may enjoy.

In this day and age of computers, almost anything can be graphically created and enhanced with just a few key strokes, easily manipulating the original image into something more or less desirable. While computer art certainly has its place in the commercial production arena, I have learned that original art, created by the hand, heart and soul of an artist will remain, over time, the most cherished and deeply appreciated of all."