Born in Tennessee in 1933, Don Hazen studied engineering before turning seriously to painting. He worked under muralist Dan Chapin Ralph Bagley of the Orlando (Florida) Institute of Art, and portraitist Robert Anderson. Upon completion of his studies in the early 1960, Mr. Hazen traveled through Europe, eventually finding his "spiritual" home in Spain. He decided to make Spain his permanent home, married and settled in Alicante. Since he has now lived on the Mediterranean coast for 30 years, Don Hazen has absorbed into his psyche the brilliant sun and vibrant colors surrounding him. Bold, singing colors laid on thickly with the palette knife, envelops the semiabstract to abstract forms which Hazen employs on his canvases. Don Hazens' paintings are filled with a contagious energy and vitality generated by the hot oranges, fuchsias, cobalt, beaten gold, scarlet and emeralds, which he uses, in a kaleidoscope of light and life. Don Hazen's work has been exhibited widely in Spain and Mexico as well as in the United States. He is represented in the permanent collection of the Museum Casa de la Cultura, Guadalajara, Mexico.