Cooper was raised on a small ranch in the central part of Oklahoma. He received his first art instruction from his father, who taught the 3 year old how to draw on a slate. Mustard, polkberry juice and shoe polish were his paints then, but today, with a lot more control and knowledge about composition and color, his style has emerged with a palette knife and wider brush. "I'm trying to get some areas more realistic and others more impressionistic and be very tight and very loose at the same time."

Wayne has paintings in the Woolaroc Museum, the Will Rogers Museum and 11 commissions done for the Oklahoma State Capitol Building Collection"