Town of Wilkesboro
"Where the Mountains Begin"
Wilkesboro, NC

    Wes started drawing when he was very young and won his first art contest at age 8. By ninth grade, he won first place in a national art competition for artists aged 13 to 19 for Seventeen Magazine. Wes won for his watercolor portrait of his great-grandfather who was a violin maker from Ireland.

    He later won first place in the Congressional Art Caucus 6th District in 1985 for his watercolor of Churchill Downs with horses in the foreground and his winning artwork hung in the White House during the Reagan administration. Wes was inspired by a photo of a hunt in the forest of Fontainebleau, France, that he saw in National Geographic and painted a stunning oil painting of it.

    Wes had also created numerous paintings, drawings and Intaglio prints that are beautiful and he continued to create new artwork, in addition to his many designs for the interiors and exteriors of residential and commercial projects.

    His last great art work was the building-sized mural of Doc Watson for the town of Wilkesboro, which was created and designed by both himself and his wife Gia, and executed and installed primarily by Wes, with the assistance of his wife. Always the gentleman, he didn't want his wife up on the lift truck or any scaffolding. They both put an incredible number of hours into the mural, over three and a half months, and he would work all day and paint much of the night too! He was an extraordinarily gifted artist who left his imprint on the world.