Randy Van Beek was born June 28, 1958, and raised in the Pacific Northwest. As a child he exhibited exceptional artistic talent with a specific interest in drawing. His drawings portrayed his different interests throughout childhood. After graduating from high school, Randy pursued no formal art training. During that period, Abstraction and Expressionism were the trends for most art colleges. Randy's interest was always Traditional Realism, so he sought out his own education. Living near Western Washington University gave him access to their extensive art library where he studied and practiced the techniques of his favorite master artists.

Most of his attention was focused on the eighteenth century...