David Lawhead

Born and raised in San Diego, California, David has seen his hometown evolve into a big city during the course of his life.  In his own artistic journey, David has also gone through an evolution from a place where fine art was on the sidelines of his life to now being front and center.  In his younger years his art-related hobbies were centered on photography and woodworking, but all of that changed in 2004 when he was introduced to oil painting.  It started as an experiment to try something new, but evolved into a passion that has grown stronger with time.  He began by taking oil painting lessons from the well-known professional Western artist Jack Jordan at Grossmont College, 

and he continued to learn and improve over many years taking private lessons from Jack.  He has also found inspiration and instruction at the Watts Atelier in Encinitas, CA. 

David has long been involved in outdoor activities professionally as a wildlife biologist/environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and California State Parks.  He has worked extensively in the world of natural resources, and that passion has carried over to some of the subject matter in his artwork.  Natural landscapes and wildlife are frequent subjects of his paintings, which is a natural merging of his love for nature and painting.  David has also found enjoyment in portraiture and human figure painting, but has lately gravitated to painting more animated scenes with people that tell stories that engage the viewer. Bottom line, David likes variety in subject matter.  

Very recently David has begun to combine oil painting with the art of paper casting, to produce more 3-dimensional art pieces.  He hopes this new experiment will give him more opportunities to express his artistic vision. 

David’s basic approach to art is to continue to learn and improve.  Success as an artist will come from producing superior work that speaks to people.