When I was young I had two loves. The first was art and the second was animals (or was it the other way around?) Then I went off to college and I received my BFA (with Honors) from Pratt Institute (NY). I also studied at other reputable schools, such as the Art Students League (NY), The School of Visual Arts (NY) and the Brian Shaw School of Art (in London).
Not being a shallow person, I spent the next few years in NY striving to make art with great meaning. We can call that period “the lean years”. Next I moved to Newport, RI. There was fresh air! There were cows! I just wanted to paint cows and so I did. It was fun. It was profitable! People like cows!! Soon I had cow posters, cow calendars, cow T-shirts. I moooved (sorry) on to other animals and created a poster series, which was under my name at that time- Steinhauser, published by Arnold Art. Wild Apple Graphics became my second poster publisher.
After painting cows, pigs, ducks and bunnies I decided to paint something I love. I love Lucy - my dog. That painting of Lucy was “discovered” by a wonderful catalog company called “In The Company of Dogs”. They urged me to paint more charismatic canines. I have found that dogs afford an endless supply of character studies and a lovely outlet for my peculiar sense of humor.
I now publish many of these paintings as limited edition prints. Everything seems to be going great, in fact, many of my prints have won the esteemed Communication Arts Award of Excellence for 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001!. For the past 3 years my paintings have been winners at the Contemporary American Dog Art Competition and 3 times received Honorable Mentions from the Society of Illustrators. Most recently my painting "Chocolate Craving" won first place at the prestigious juried show "Art Show at the Dog Show" and the other entry "Stay" won the peoples choice award! So my art has “gone to the dogs” and I couldn’t be happier!
