Lonnie began carving birds in the late 70's when the art form was still young in his native state of Texas. He started out, as many carvers do, carving duck decoys. His interest in other birds quickly prompted him to include other species of birds as carving subjects, and he began selling his work at art festivals and galleries.

Lonnie entered his first competition in 1988, winning the Life Size Division of the Gulf South Championship at the Louisiana Wildfowl Festival with a pair of flying scissor-tailed flycatchers fighting over a dragonfly. Since then, he has competed and judged at scores of carving competitions across the United States. Lonnie works and competes in both miniature and life-size categories, preferring active, aggressive songbirds and birds of prey. He has won numerous "Best-in-Show" and "Purchase Awards" in the Open and Professional class, as well as awards in the "Masters Class" and "World Class" categories at the Ward World Championships. Lonnie also exhibits his work at the prestigious Easton Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland.

Lonnie's work has been frequently included in Wildfowl Carving's annual Competition Magazine, and his work has been featured on several magazine covers.

A self taught artist, Lonnie uses what he has learned to teach others the art of bird carving through seminars and demonstration articles for various magazines and publications. An accomplished photographer, Lonnie uses many of his own photos for reference material, as well as photographing and writing his own demonstrations. Lonnie has authored two of Wildfowl Carving Magazine's demonstration books; Wookbench Project: Miniature Prairie Falcon and Workbench Project: Loggerhead Shrike. He has also co-authored Workbench Project: Hooded Merganser with World Champion Russell Martin, which chronicles Russell's execution of a decorative Hooded Merganser decoy.

Lonnie feels that good techniques is important, but technical skills alone do not make an effective carving. The more knowledge an artist acquires, both through research and field study, the more the artist can impart character and life-like qualities to the work. If the artist can know and respect the subject, then the viewer can know and respect the subject as well.

Lonnie enjoys studying the lives of birds as much as carving, spending most of his field time in bird rich Texas and New Mexico. Getting to know the bird in the field, understanding its' character and environment, is a bonus as well as a necessity.