After a twenty-five year career serving as a political officer in Washington D.C. and U.S.Embassies in North Africa, Latin America, and Europe, Peterson retired in 1990 to pursue a second career as an artist.  His work can be found in the homes of diplomats, businessmen, journalists, and art lovers around the world.  

A self-taught watercolor and oil painter, Peterson's representational style and earthy palette are distinctively his own.  Whether painting an Oklahoma farm, Colonial Mexico, or a French countryside or cityscape, Peterson draws on his unique experience to share with others the rustic beauty he finds in the humble, time-worn, and hand-hewn.

Jerald Peterson is a internationally known artist.  He is a frequent award winner at fine art exhibits and outdoor festivals from coast to coast.  His work can frequently be seen in Southwest Art Magazine.  He is a non-resident  artist member of the Salmagundi Club in New York City(www.salmagundi.org)and a member of the South West Watercolor Society in Dallas (www.swswatercolor.org).  Jerald and Molly have hosted Painting Workshops in their studio in Oklahoma and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. 

Jerald Peterson has had exhibitions of his paintings in Mexico City, Paris, Santo Domingo, and many venues in the United States. He has an art studio/Watercolor Barn in Tahlequah, OK, where he lives with his wife and inspiration, Molly, and gives individual and group watercolor classes.  They also offer watercolor workshops of several days at a time which include Molly's international meals and artisan bread baked in the Watercolor Barn.