Vernon Washington was born October 17, 1963, in Columbus, Ohio. His interest in art began at age seven, which consisted of copying Warner Bros. cartoons. At this early age, his interest in wildlife was developed with frequent trips with his family to the Columbus Zoo.
Vernon briefly studied art at Atlanta College of Art, and took additional art courses at Western Oklahoma State College. He joined the United States Air Force in July 1985 and spent the first three years of his service in Fairbanks, Alaska. While in Alaska, the artist made numerous field sketches of moose, wolves, wolverines, whales, eagles, bears, and foxes. This experience cemented his desire to paint the natural world.
In 1991, he illustrated articles for Charleston Magazine, "The Religion of the Past, and Gamecocks Forever." In 1993, a friend introduced him to the proprietor of the Audubon Wildlife Gallery, Polly Holden. The gallery began to exhibit his wildlife paintings in the winter of 1994. In 1996, he was invited to participate in an art exhibition, Friends of the National Zoo, where his paintings were displayed alongside icons of the genre such as, Robert Bateman, Terry Isaac, Matthew Hillier, Joe Garcia, Jan McGuire, Nancy Howe, and Al Agnew.
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