In the 1960's, after having a career in banking and finance, Dirk decided there had to be a better way of self-expression. He severed his ties with his business and began to paint, sometimes carrying his paintings into law offices and to bankers with whom he had done business in the past. He was, of course, self-taught with a strong desire to create impressions of his nearly lifelong experience of New Mexico.

In his paintings, Dirk captures the rugged strength of the centuries in the adobes, which are also his chief devotion. His paintings reveal the vivid colors that are New Mexico's trademark, the elusive Southwestern clouds and azure skies. His adobes are an interplay of shadow and light, so often discovered here by the observant, yet so difficult to recreate.

Of Dirk's paintings, it has been said that they reflect life, both the life that seems to linger amid the crumbling walks and the life, vibrant and aware, that wields the brush. Versatile, he does not hesitate to venture into such distant realms as science fiction, circus life and clowns.