Beginning his career as a commercial artist in Dallas, Nashville and Sacramento, Scott Jennings became a noted plein-air painter of western landscape. He was born in New Orleans, and was raised as a child of an Air Force doctor, which meant many moves across the country. He spent his early years in Florida, did high school in North Carolina, studied for two years at the Harris School of Advertising in Nashville, Tennessee, and then worked for commercial art studios in Nashville.

Not liking to work for somebody besides himself, he moved to Sacramento, California where he opened his own graphic design business and began painting outside, especially in national parks. Later he said he was "hooked" and was...