Born in Prague, Oklahoma in 1911, Carl Bray studied art at Miami College and then moved to California during the Depression seeking a job.

In WPA classes, he studied painting with Maynard Dixon, and Russell Swan. He became a popular lecturer for college classes, television shows and art groups.

In 1956, he settled a home and art gallery in Indian Wells where he had been coming since age 19 and had developed a close friendship with artist/engraver Fred Chisnall.

Desert scenes, over 13,000, with smoke trees were his trademark as a landscape painter. He had a second home and art gallery in Taos, New Mexico.

He has been a member of the Society of Western Artists, the La Jolla Art Association, and the Desert Art Center of Palm Springs.

He died in 2011, at the age of one hundred.