Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1967, art was a central interest from an early age: cartoons, airplanes, dinosaurs, and, of course, animals!  Andrew was fortunate that his parents took some interest in his passion by enrolling him in local art workshops.  A real coup happened when his family relocated to South Florida and the ten-year-old became the pupil of Helen Shick for the next eight years.  Her mentorship had a lasting impression on him and helped him master his drawing skills (in both pencil and pen and ink).

Andrew’s professional art career took a slight detour with a twenty-year career in the US Navy. Even so, his artistic interests did not remain dormant during this time.  What started as a means of decorating living quarters by creating artwork for the walls turned into new opportunities and expanding abilities.  During periods of personal leave, he also began to focus his artistic efforts towards a concerted vision in wildlife art.  A series of local college courses in addition to workshops with famous wildlife artists such as John Seerey-Lester helped Andrew accelerate his painting skills and overall abilities as an artist.  Throughout this time, he travelled the world, recording the experiences in sketchbooks and on film.  His efforts resulted in his artwork being exhibited in several galleries in Florida and Alabama.

As his work began to mature, Andrew recognized the need for additional knowledge and initiated a focused study of animal anatomy.  This allowed him more artistic freedom and broke the dependence on photo references.  He also began concentrating on painting from life by using plein air excursions to add both authenticity and color realism to his work