Born in Southern California, Brad Schmidt’s first art lessons came by way of his father, a full time painter. Raised in a family of artists, Brad also had the good fortune to meet and do yard work for artist Ray Swanson (CAA) who taught him how to work with watercolors during the early stages of his burgeoning career. In 1971, fifteen-year-old Brad began to sell professionally through his father’s gallery; his work hanging along side master painters such as R. Brownell McGrew. Soon after high school graduation, Brad’s work was accepted into Gallery Americana in Carmel. It was in Carmel that he met and became friends with the late, great American watercolorist Donald Tegue, an artist who would have a profound influence on Brad’s painting. In 1975, Brad moved from California to Arizona, joined another major gallery and traveled and painted extensively throughout the United States. Beginning in 1982, he spent ten years traveling in Latin America where he painted and taught art in an international school before returning home to the United States. In 1987, Brad joined other family members for a successful show at the Western Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona. Referring to his paintings as “character studies” rather than portraits, his painting technique approaches photo realism, infused with soft edged brushwork. Today, Brad is highly regarded for his oil paintings that capture people of older, still existing cultures such as those found in Mexico and various other countries in Central and South America. He has also spent the last 15 years studying and painting the Navajo Indian.