Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Dixon grew up in Chicago, IL with his mother, an older brother and three sisters. While attending elementary school there, he occasionally got into trouble for drawing in class when he should have been finishing his class assignments. At the age of eighteen he and the rest of the family moved to Niles, Michigan where he graduated from high school and later attended Western Michigan University and received his formal art training.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art and Master of Arts Degree in Graphic Design. After graduation, he was recruited by Hallmark Cards, Inc. in Kansas City, MO where he now resides and works out of his studio. Dixon has also taught drawing and graphic design at one of the local universities. He has a wife ( Rena ) and three sons, Rodney, Reginald and Ryan.
Dixon is intrigued and awed by such masters as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and Thomas Moran. Homer and Sargent for their figures and Moran for his stunning landscapes. His major tool for capturing his subjects if one of his best friends, his camera.
Dixon was selected as one of five artists to represent the United States in London, England at St. James Palace for the Winsor and Newton World-Wide Millennium Painting Competition, "Our World in the Year 2000." Fifty-one countries from around the world were represented including the U.S.A. There were over 22,000 entries, a record that was recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records. HRH The Prince of Wales ( Prince Charles ), chaired the panel of world-renowned judges. The exhibition was also shown if Stockholm, Sweden and the United Nations Building in New York City.
Henry W. Dixon became a signature member of the National Watercolor Society (NWS) in 1995, which was their 75th anniversary. The records of the society from 1920-1995, which included the artists and slides of their work became part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution Art Archives in Washington, D.C.
Dixon was also selected as the artist to represent the State of Missouri whose work was part of the White House Calendar for the year 2001. This work is now part of the permanent collection of the White House Museum.
In 2009, Dixon authored his first book entitled "Paint Amazing Watercolors From Photographs." Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F&W Media, Cincinnati, OH.
In 2016, Dixon's Painting entitled "Inside Out" won the Bronze Award and $1,000 in the National Watercolor Society and the joint venture with the Shenzhen, China Watercolor Society in China's International Exhibition.
