Peter was born in Silver Springs, Maryland on May 2, 1963. From his earliest days he has been fascinated by nature and spent his childhood splashing in creeks and hiking in the woods. School was always a chore but, finally led to work as a state park naturalist and as a naturalist for the Audubon Society.

In 1986 he moved to Athens, Georgia to work at the Sandy Creek Nature Center. Shortly after moving to Georgia, he bought a set of water color paints and attempted to illustrate and produce a field guide to local wildlife. Frustrated with his 'messy painting' he quit, telling himself that "painting is too hard". About two years later a period of emotional stress and physical illness led Peter back to water colors. This time with no goal in mind he began to create strange little paintings dominated splotches of color on typing paper. Encouraged by friends and motivated by a constant will to paint, he soon switched to acrylics and store-bought canvas. The first of these, him as a fish, was completed in one evening during which the splotches of color turned into thickly applied dots and dashes. His strange little paintings had evolved into the whimsy he creates today.