At a young age, with crayons and coloring book at hand, Bob recalls his mother telling him he was "good at staying inside the lines", and the seed was planted. He became the typical teenage boy, interested in playing baseball and drawing cartoons. Though he was a strong baseball player, Bob chose to pursue his other passion, art.

He began his studies with the Famous Artists Correspondence Course, but midway through the course, he was drafted into the Army. During his tour of duty in the Army Air Corps, training pilots for missions in Viet Nam, he managed to continue his art pursuits by creating a cartoon strip for the aviation newspaper, the Army Flyer.

Once back in civilian life, Bob enrolled at the American Academy of Art, with plans to become a commercial artist. At the suggestion of a fellow student, he sat in on a watercolor demonstration by then Director and President, Irving Shapiro, AWS. Fascinated that a painting of three children, carrying schoolbooks, walking down a country road...in the fall... could be beautifully completed in an hour and a half, Bob was smitten with the watercolor bug, never again to "stay inside the lines".

Including a semester at the Chicago Academy of Art, Bob's journey would lead him to a fine art degree from the American Academy of Art. During a 28-year teaching career at the Academy, he was a fulltime Fundamentals instructor, often taught watercolor classes for Mr. Shapiro, and taught his own watercolor classes for six years. Bob was also the first chair of the Fundamentals department, a position he held for 10 years.

Inspired by John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, and Richard Schmid, Bob's philosophy and art reflect realism influenced by impressionism, the core of the traditional instruction offered at the Academy when he was a student.

Recent awards include:

2012 - Transparent Watercolor Society of America-Donors Award

2012 - Illinois Watercolor Society-Honorable Mention

2011 - Transparent Watercolor Society of America- Lakes Region Watercolor Guild Award

2010 - Illinois Watercolor Society-Awarded signature membership

2010 - "Watercolor 10" Award of Excellence-Norris Gallery, St. Charles, IL

2009 - Illinois Watercolor Society -Award of Excellence

Bob's work was recently published in the April, 2012 issue of Watercolor Artist Magazine

Bob gives demonstrations, offers workshops, and judges shows at many Chicagoland venues.
He is an instructor at the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, and far west of the big city, he holds continuing classes in his small hometown of Kaneville, where old farmsteads and cornfields still dominate the landscape.