Jerome Neal was born in Chicago in 1941. Both his mother and grandmother drew and he has been painting since he was a child. He went to school in Chicago and Gary and attended business college.
He has had an extremely varied career; worked at Montgomery Ward's, drove a cab while in school, labored at the steel mills, did a stint in the Air Force, worked for the Post Office.
He left Chicago in 1994 to be closer to his children and is very proud that he has supported himself with his artwork in recent years.
He gets his inspiration from different colors and various subjects, including city scapes, both real and imagined, trains, cars, portraits, musical performers and abstracts. He is constantly trying new approaches. "I try to use all different kinds of hues and lights, and combine them in ways that inspire and provoke thought and consideration…really, I just paint."