San Francisco native Thomas Wood grew up in a house filled with paintings and sculpture, and art was a frequent topic of conversation. He was inspired by his artist parents Mireille and Phil Wood, his grandfather Gottardo Piazzoni, his cousin Russ Chatham and great-uncle Maurice del Mué. All were landscape painters.
He began painting when he was around eight at the family's ranch in Carmel Valley, when his parents provided him with easel, sketch box, brushes and oil paints.
As teenagers, during summers, he and his cousin Russ would paint what was around them: oaks and hills, barns and fences, sea and woodlands – and tack their paintings up on the wall of the ranch house porch, an impromptu rural art gallery.
Earning a B.A. (University of California Berkeley) and an M.A. (San Francisco State University) in English, he taught college composition and literature for several years in New York and California. He also worked in educational media and photography, and was active in theater and music.
In the 1980s he decided to make art his vocation, and has since exhibited professionally in numerous successful one-man and group shows. His paintings hang in many private collections.
He lives in Marin County, California.
"I like being out in nature and I like outdoor painting.
"I complete most paintings on location, and often use on-location work as a basis for larger studio canvases.
"I paint without formula, premeditated style or fashion, but strive for an authenticity of vision and feeling derived from close observation.
"The landscape is emblematic of the life-cycle and is the envelope of our existence. It's suggestive of past and future, evoking memory and time, history and dreams. One encounters the contemplative, the awe-inspiring, the beautiful – and the quiet dignity of the ordinary. Through painting, I hope to capture some of these qualities."