Don Brackett has been an artist most of his life, studying art most of his school years as he grew up in New Mexico. Don studied art at the University of New Mexico. He became the president of the New Mexico Watercolor Society. In 1980 he started painting in oil, as he preferred the textural quality of this new medium. Throughout his career as a painter, he has been a plein-aire painter, preferring to paint on location as much as possible.