Bermuda Red Cross calendar, was born in the United States and attended a special high school devoted to art and music before training as a graphic designer at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York -- a profession he pursued for 40 years.

He had his own graphic design studio in Atlanta, Georgia and handled such major national accounts as the US Army, Coca-Cola and the Atlantic Braves.

During the late 1940s, Mr. Trousdell visited an aunt and uncle in Bermuda, and because of these strong ties decided to retire here 14 years ago.

He paints eight to nine hours every day, and has produced a host of canvases for exhibitions to benefit local charities, as well as donating artwork for The Family Learning Centre calendar.

Mr. Trousdell is strongly influenced by his surroundings, and is particularly fascinated with Bermuda's flora and fauna, and draws inspiration from observances on his many bicycle rides and walks.

"`Secret Worlds' came about from getting a feeling for what Bermuda was like before man came here,'' he explains of one series. "Those paintings were sold for the benefit of the St. George's Foundation.'' Another series, `Geometrics,' featured the Island from a geometric viewpoint, and these works so caught the imagination of a California jewellery company that it acquired the rights to the art and is reproducing the images as jewellery.

Sales of all 25 paintings in his `Nature by Design' series, which featured Bermuda fauna, benefitted the Aquarium, Museum and Zoo.

"I try to see Bermuda in a different way and represent it to the people. That is where Secret Worlds, Dockyard Cats, the Red Cross calendar come from,'' he explains.

"I am a living example of someone who came here and has been influenced by Bermuda and its art.'' Mr. Trousdell works in a variety of styles, and says that painting, rather than graphic design, is his first venture into fine art.

As a man who never rests, he is already working on his next project, which is also Dockyard-based.

"It is called `Rock Boys,' and is about the convict labour that built the Dockyard,'' he explains. "The term comes from their friends in Britain who referred to those who survived their Bermuda experience and returned home as `rock boys'. My series of paintings will depict convict labour building Dockyard.''