Born in 1945, Steve was raised in the ranching country of West Texas. He attended St. Stephens School in Austin, Washington University in Saint Louis, and the University of Texas Law School at Austin. While at Washington University Steve played basketball and developed what would be a life long appreciation for jazz. For a period of time in Austin Steve sold pencil drawings on the drag before he left Texas to work as a deckhand on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois Rivers. He studied painting by traveling in Mexico and Europe during the late 1960's viewing and learning from master works from all periods of the history of art.

When he returned to the family ranch in 1970 Steve first considered becoming a writer but soon found that he was spending most of his time painting. From that time to the present he has spent most of each day engaged in that process. In 1980 the artist moved with his family to Port Aransas for what he calls the "rich stew of rotting fish, misfits, and moneygrubbers.” When asked how much of each day he spends painting he replied, mean actually putting paint on canvas, sometimes only a few minutes, but I work all day. After a day spent painting Steve often picks up a sketch pad and pencil and spends the evening drawing as he socializes or attends a local event. These pads are all saved and stacked carefully in a corner of his studio. The artist says that he has no plan when he begins a painting. The inspiration comes from his subconscious and unfolds in the act of applying paint to the canvas.

Most critics would probably categorize Steve's large canvases as abstract but the artist hesitates to describe his work as falling into any particular style. "Style," he says, "is a rut." As soon as you recognize it, you have been there too long." The artist considers all of his paintings works in progress. A person moving about Steve's large studio would see paintings stacked everywhere, in the rafters, against walls, and some permanently applied to the floor and doors. Any of them might be reworked. A painting is finished he says, when it walks out the door.