Gary Greene has been working as a professional artist continuously since 1967. During his career, Gary has worked as a fine artist, instructor, author, photographer, art director, designer and illustrator. He is the sole proprietor of GGArt, a business he began in 1984 and still successfully operates today. Gary graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Hard Knocks.

Gary works and has worked in numerous mediums, both digital and traditional, but colored pencil has been his fine art passion since 1983. He is a pioneer in the use of water-soluble colored pencils as a mainline fine art medium and has developed or refined new techniques for colored pencil. Some of his paintings may require upwards of 500 hours to complete and when people see them they often exclaim, “That’s colored pencil?”

There have been ten North Light Books written by Gary, including his latest, The Ultimate Guide to Colored Pencil. His first book, Creating Textures in Colored Pencil sold thousands of copies worldwide and is now in re-release. His other books dealing with colored pencil: Colored Pencil and Watercolor Pencil, No Experience Required; Capturing Radiant Flowers in Colored Pencil and Painting With Water-Soluble Pencils have also been best-sellers in their genre, enjoyed long histories and international distribution. Gary originated the Artist’s Photo Reference book series and authored five titles Artist’s Photo Reference: Flowers, Landscapes, Buildings & Barns, Boats & Nautical Scenes and Reflections, Textures & Backgrounds. Gary has written articles for and his work has appeared in (among others): The Artist’s Magazine, American Artist and International Artist magazines.

Gary’s colored pencil art has won numerous national and international awards including the Colyer-Weston Art League National Art Merit Competition, The Artist’s Magazine National Art Competition, and three Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) Awards of Excellence. His work has been purchased and showcased by corporations such as: Lyra Bleistift-Fabrik (Germany), Paccar, Parsons Brinkerhoff, Boston Art in Boston Massachusetts, Semantics Gallery in Edmonds, Washington and the Blue Heron Gallery in Vashon, Washington.

Newell-Rubbermaid (Sanford) Corporation (Prismacolor pencils), Utrecht Artists Materials and the Lyra Bleistift-Fabrik Company, (Lyra colored pencils), among others, have used Gary’s artwork for advertising, packaging and promotional material.

Gary has conducted workshops, demonstrations, and lectures