Glued to a small television screen, as close as my parents would allow without risking blindness, I was completely transfixed by the images brought into my home courtesy of Mutual of Omaha, narrated by zoologist Marlin Perkins. It was then, at approximately the age of seven, that wildlife and Animal art captured my attention, and I began to collect a library of mental images that I would compile for a lifetime. I spent many hours in the school library, searching for books, short stories, and magazines that might feature nonfiction or fictional tales of wildlife adventure from around the world.