Tim Desmond (b. 1946) American, Oil on Canvas. The illustration depicts California Gold Rush miners. Signed bottom right. 

Overall: 27 1/2 X 21 1/2 in. 

Sight: 23 1/2 X 17 1/2 in. 

#3804 . 

Timothy J. Desmond was born in 1946 in Madera, California, and has spent most of his life in nearby Fresno. He became interested in art at an early age, and was awarded a scholarship to  study sculpture and painting at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland in 1964. His early influences included Bob Trestrail, Heinz Kusel, Dean Draper, and Water Witt. When he left college he went to work as a commercial artist for a local screen printer, before opening his own business which he ran through the early 1980s. However, he found it difficult to reconcile his creative desires with what companies were looking for, and spent several years exploring his interests, including working at local hospitals and studying Lutheranism. He eventually enrolled at California State University in Fresno, studying chemistry. After graduating with his Bachelors degree in 1975 he worked as a science teacher, first at Thomas Jefferson Jr. High School for ten years followed by another twenty-six teaching biology and chemistry for several institutions in the Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District. He also taught art in the early  and late 1990s, developing an affinity for abstract expressionism while trying to realistically capture people and their environment. By the 2000s he was painting more regularly, and when he retired from teaching he began to write and publish novels as well as expanding his artistic output. In 2015 one of his paintings was barred from public display at the Big Fresno Fair for including a confederate flag in the image, and after two years of fighting the case in court his case set a precedent for First Amendment rights in artwork in the state. He continues to explore art and many of his pieces have found their way into private collections.