Sam Bailie, Jr. lives in Plano, Texas with his wife, Mary, and their two daughters, Cara and Kaitlin.  After beginning a career in graphic design and illustration, Sam realized true fulfillment could only come from creating his own artwork.  While earning a Bachelor’s of Fine Art at the University of Arizona, he experimented with a variety of styles.  He then focused on the realistic portrayal of family, nature, and life.  Oils were the medium of choice in the early years of his career in order to create fine detail.  However, a fascination with the works of Andrew Wyeth caused him to explore the use of watercolors to achieve the same detailed, controlled style he had developed.  His early subject matter was largely his family and still lifes. 

Sam begins a work with a wet, loose method of painting, but then switches to a dry brush technique enabling him to achieve a “drawing with paint” effect that produces the desired detail.  Upon completion of a work, parts will have been reworked numerous times.  Slow and tedious, this technique often requires more than 250 hours to complete a painting. 

From 1997 to 2001 Sam painted 31 portraits of the inductees into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in Norman, Oklahoma. Realistic and detailed, the portraits capture not only the image of the inductees, but also their spirit.  He has a painting in the Springfield Art Museum Permanent Collection as well as two paintings in Richardson Civic Library’s Permanent Collection.