Alston (Al) Wormwood lives in Standish, Maine, which is not far from Portland on the Atlantic Coast. He is a semi-retired, self-employed, machine designer/draftsman with artistic talent. He has always been able to draw and so could his father. Although Al has not had formal art lessons, his father taught him some of the basics, such as perspective, rendering or shading and to be aware of where the light was coming from. Free hand drawing and painting was a “sometime” thing for him; he would pick it up, do it for a while, and put it down until he got the urge again. In 2001 he decided to do something with that ability.

The craft field seemed the logical place to start, and so he decided to try painting on rocks after reading in a craft magazine about Lin Wellford and her books about painting animal rocks. He purchased two of her books and started painting. He discovered that he enjoyed painting with acrylics and decided to expand his "canvas" to slate.

He has a natural bent for detail and realism which is apparent in his work. Although some of the rocks he paints are somewhat cartoon-like, all of his creations fall more into the art realm. That is especially true when he paints on commission, whether on rock or slate.