George Hallmark was born in 1949 in rural Texas. “My parents were in their 40s when I was born. It was almost like being raised by grandparents,” Hallmark remembers. “We had a little farm, but my father was a professional musician – he had a dance band and played a little pop and Country Western. My mother was a bookkeeper, and I'm a little bit of the two. I have my father's inspiration – 'Head for high goal,' he taught me – and my mother's sense of organization – everything is in its place around here."

Hallmark attended a small school and never had any formal art training until he attended Tarrant County Junior College and Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth. “In college, I was the only art student amid all the architectural students, so when I left school, I was able to do architectural design.” After leaving college, he worked in architecture for several years, and in 1979, Hallmark traveled to Utah to study painting for a summer with William Whitaker. “Bo” Pummill, CAA, has also been a good friend of mine. He was always there if I had a problem, and I could take work by, and he'd critique if for me.”

In 1981, Texas Art Gallery hosted Hallmark's first one-man show, which sold out opening night, and in 1988, he was voted the Official Texas State Artist. His originals are exclusively represented by Trailside Galleries. In addition, he is an annual exhibitor with the Masters of the American West Exhibition and Sale at the Gene Autry museum in Los Angeles.

Hallmark has gone full circle in his development as an artist. After years of painting nostalgic Western scenes, in the mid-nineties, he returned to his roots – architecture. Old weathered adobe and stucco buildings, as well as Mexican and European street markets, are infused with a dramatic play of light and shadow. His love of subject is obvious in the delineation of stucco walls, tile roofs, and long shadows in his unique painterly style. He is now completing new work from recent trips to Mexico, France and Spain. Hallmark and his wife, Lisa, live in Meridian, Texas, only about an hour from his birthplace. His picturesque home and studio overlook the Bosque River Valley.