Charles discovered his artistic talent at the young age of eight in 1986. “I sat down one day and decided to mimic a photograph of my grandmother. I began with the eyes and realized it looked exactly like the picture, so I drew the entire face,” he recalls. Later he learned that his grandmother suffered from manic depression throughout her life, which later helped him understand his own struggles with the disease.

He and his mother lived alone in the small, rural village of Blanchester, Ohio. They made ends meet after his parents divorced when he was eight years old. He had to adjust, as his older brother and father moved out west. He could be found in the kitchen making pizzas at his mother’s little family restaurant, which was always full of local high school students after school and football games. The restaurant eventually had to be sold, and his mother continued to work elsewhere.

During his adolescent years he also displayed creativity with his personal style. He is known in his hometown for amazing art, and also for his unique hair styles in grade school, which were unheard of in a small town setting. In junior high he had a blonde afro. He recollects asking for the “tightest rollers” from a hair designer. This did not take away from his reputation of being the “most attractive” boy in town, as the girls still say. His quiet personality contradicts with his desire to be outwardly different.

Since copying the photograph, Charles continued drawing. A friend recommended that he audition for the School of Creative and Performing arts, after discovering his talent. It was a big step to convince his mother for permission to attend a school an hour away in Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine. She agreed, and he completed his high school career in advanced art classes.

As Charles transgressed from high school, he began to notice what he now understands, as signs of manic depression, now known as bi-polar. His symptoms heavily persisted. One time he was unable to sleep for eight days and had visions of red dots. You will also find these dots in the corners of his paintings. Taken to the hospital, he was misdiagnosed as going through alcohol withdrawal. After a slow discovery of balanced medications, Charles was released.

He spent time in and out of hospitals during high school and before college. Shortly after high school he met Ava, a Spanish Au Pair (nanny) in Cincinnati. He also shortly visited her in Spain. Once returned, he began the University of Cincinnati’s D.A.A.P. program for a year in order to receive medical insurance. His visits in the hospital were too costly to pay out of pocket. Here he snuck into advanced art classes because of his excelled talent for drawing.

Even though he was supposed to follow an academic curriculum, he aced the higher art classes and attended only Spanish class, which he failed. He laughs now as he remembers that the professors didn’t think to ask why he was not on the class list. Once Charles brought in a drawing from high school for a critique, and his was selected as an example. After a year in the program, Ava talked him into attending a college in Barcelona, Spain on a grant.

In Barcelona, he describes his experience as indulging himself in the culture and art world. He viewed 11 th century architecture, lived with a large family in the countryside and learned about Picasso and other famous artists. During this time he held a one man show for a jazz based festival at Vivaldi Gallery.

One year later, still fighting mental illness, he moved back to Ohio. Charles had been promoted to advanced art classes throughout college, so it was particularly distressing when asked by the D.A.A.P. program to take pre-requisite classes, like basic drawing, English, Math, etc., which needed to be completed for a degree. During this time he was still in and out of the hospital with bi-polar symptoms. After unable to complete the tasks required by school, due to his illness, he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to live with his brother. Eventually his mental condition worsened, and he ended up living on the streets.

At this time, without medication, suffering from schizophrenia and manic thoughts, he learned to live as a minimalist. If not hospitalized, he was incarcerated from rummaging to find materials for his artwork. “Even though this was the lowest point in my life, I learned to use recyclable materials to create artwork,” says Charles. His mom recalls encounters of phone calls home from him dealing with schizophrenic behavior and conversations of fear for his well being. His mother convinced him to move back to his hometown when she flew out to Vegas and pulled him out of a hospital.

Charles reflects that while in Vegas, he never stopped creating art. He built a 20ft. metal sculpture for a private client, held shows and sold artwork. Each of his paintings tells a story. You may see a hospital setting, a self portrait of a lonely, imprisoned soul or emotions he felt within, portrayed in a painting such as “BPD”, bi-polar disease. He also traded paintings for dental work one time when he broke a tooth playing with his dog.

Like many artists paint as a form of therapy, so does Charles. Not only is he challenged with the stigmatism that making art cannot earn a living, but also the medications that encourage his mind to cease creativity. Along finding a balance that pushes him through everyday life, Charles lives art.

In an older biography about himself, Charles writes, “In my painting I try to simulate a monumental feeling, a revelation of my hidden feelings and in turn see how you may interpret and apply them in your own life. The uncertainties of the edges represent isolation, hesitation, aggression, and the social and spiritual meaning of the artistic experience. When I paint, I am directly expressing my feelings rather than illustrating them. It is the spontaneity that drives me to add and subtract things until I feel the piece is complete.”

Currently residing in Ohio, Charles is active in the Cincinnati Historic Restoration Foundation. He reflects of Barcelona’s magnificent architecture to visualize the beauty once found in the architecture of Cincinnati, now becoming scarce. Charles strives to reserve the historic structures in Cincinnati by donating time to restoring these buildings.

He also is engaged in the concept of “going green”. He uses materials, safely in is art that would otherwise pollute the environment. “Green” is not a trend to him, but a way of living. He brings his experiences of using resources, homeless on the streets of Las Vegas, into his paintings. You may hear people say the expression that one person cannot make a difference. Charles responds, “I will not change the world alone, but I will make an impact.”

He continues to battle the balance of daily medications and the creative drive constantly nagging his brain. These medications make him sleep too much when taken, but not at all if disregarded. Yet no medications can take away his passion for making art. He continues to collect recyclable materials and design sublime images. You will find yourself engrossed in his paintings, and through his art, understanding how it feels to be in the mind of a gifted artist.