Can you tell us about this picture?
People call me Uncle Duke. That’s my wife, Annette, and our 2 dogs. We’re sitting in the basement of our house, which is a workshop/artist studio/office for us.
What kind of artwork do you make?
I’m a miniaturist. I make miniature war scenes– most are about as large as a ping pong table, with hundreds of tiny figures. I make and paint everything by hand. People all over the world collect them. The one I’m working on right now is of the Alamo.
This work must have led you into lots of adventures.
I’ve had a great life. I once sat down with JRR Tolkien and he asked me to make little mini-versions of his Ents so his kids could play with them. That was decades before the movies came out– he wasn’t famous yet. I also had a band in the 70’s called Duke and the Dukettes– you can see the poster right there.