From the early age of eleven, Donald Renner began taking art lessons. During his junior and senior years of high school in the Austin neighborhood of
Chicago he studied art at the
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He found time in between harrowing wartime adventures to doodle on letters back home and even to paint an elaborate parrot mural on the smokestack of the S.S. Robert Parrot, which cruised around the Mediterranean. Upon returning to
Chicago at the end of the war, he rejoined the Academy of Fine Arts where he received a basic education. He refined his talents and style under art teacher
Marilyn Bendell. At Silver Spur Ranch in Gresham,
Wisconsin, Donald met Shirley Von Bergen, another Chicagoan. While working in the
printing industry during the day to earn a steady living, he painted in the evenings, began teaching art classes in 1963, and entered his work in local art shows. In 1961 he moved his wife and their two daughters, Carol, aged 6, and Gail, aged 3, to
Spain for 14 months. Renner said, "I got fed up with the world and decided to chuck everything and take off." They traveled the Atlantic Ocean on the
T.S. Bremen, a passenger steam liner. Before returning to
Illinois, Renner bought a
VW Beetle to make a family road trip across Europe, stopping in
Gibraltar,
Germany,
Denmark,
France,
Switzerland,
Belgium,
Holland, and
Sweden. Big opportunities opened up for Renner when he became affiliated with the Pheasant Run Lodge and Playhouse in
St. Charles for four years. Celebrities he painted during this time included
James Mac Arthur,
Robert Wagner,
Edward Everett Horton,
Maureen O'Sullivan,
Howard Duff,
Alan Young,
Linda Darnell,
Carolyn Jones,
Dan Dailey,
Johnny Desmond, and
Virginia Graham–who opened her TV show
Girl Talk with the portrait. He gained increased public attention for the work with critics calling him "the
Michelangelo of
South Florida." Other notable commissions during his time in
South Florida include a larger than life 9' portrait of
Don King and a portrait of King and his wife. Renner painted numerous oil and watercolor paintings of
Seminole Indians, including seven paintings, a oil mural that hangs in the Seminole Casino, and a portrait of
James Billie, Chairman of the
Seminole Tribe of Florida. His reputation attracted numerous private commissions as well. He continued teaching art classes at the Broward Arts Guild and conducting live demonstrations as an active member of the
Broward County art scene. == Artistic Expression ==