Born and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles to Japanese parents, George and Alice Sumida, Gregory Sumida is a painter of "Old World dedication". He grinds his own paints, stretches the canvases and makes the frames. His primary subjects are Plains Indians in landscape, such as Crows and Shoshones, and his primary media are gouache, charcoal, watercolor, tempera, and oils. His styles vary from impressionism to realism to western to Japanese influence, and he is dedicated to continually changing and growing.

Sumida is self taught and began selling paintings at age 15. His life-changing inspiration came from a high school trip to the Los Angeles Art Museum and from a conversation...