“It took me time to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up.”
The sketches that filled Caldie’s school notebooks left little room for scholastic achievement. Considered something of a daydreamer in the classroom, he excelled in theatre and music, teaching himself to play several instruments. His natural ear for music eventually led to several years as an entertainer with a corporate-sponsored group performing in five states.
After years on the road, the arrival of his first child prompted Caldie to consider another path. While seeking work as a musician, he approached an advertising agency and was mistaken for a late applicant for a copywriting position. Told that other candidates had already submitted writing samples, he composed one by hand and returned with it less than an hour later. He was hired the following day. The imagination that once earned him the label of daydreamer proved to be an asset, and several years later another agency recruited him as its creative director.
Throughout those years, the natural world remained an important part of Caldie’s life. An avid canoeist, he spent countless hours exploring wilderness waterways, deepening a connection to nature that shaped the way he sees the world.
But everything changed when a head-on collision left Caldie on the slow road to recovery. After years of creating words and images to serve the needs of others, he reassessed his life and chose to create work that reflected his own view of the world. He taught himself to paint by studying the masters and began writing a novel that explores family, resilience, and belonging through the prism of the natural world.
The award-winning fine art featured on this website reflects that same desire for personal expression and a lifelong search for beauty and order.