Elton George Krafft received his artistic training at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In Milwaukee he ran his own advertising studio for a number of years. After serving in the Army Corps of Engineers in World War II, Krafft joined Cream City Outdoor Advertising Co., Milwaukee (which became Naegele, Hanson, and Foster & Kleiser Outdoor Advertising Co.) as Art Director. He did hand-drawn artwork-work illustrations for over 40 years, pioneering the use of three-dimensional objects on billboards, and was considered a leader in the field. His graphic art, which advertised major local firms, included the “Fritzie” caricature for Schlitz Brewing Co. and also the Usinger Sausage elves. Retiring in 1985, he stated: “With retirement, I am free to paint where, when and whatever I choose.”
A prolific painter, the Lake Geneva artist spent most of his 87 years creating impressionist style paintings. Paintings covering the walls of his studio reflect the pure joy that he found in the Wisconsin landscape. Krafft was an inventive colorist and daring manipulator of paint and pictorial space, boldly manipulating strokes of paint with palette knife and paintbrush for the sake of painting – for the sheer pleasure of recording his perceptions of the visible world with extraordinary colors and resulting shapes. He enjoyed painting through the changing seasons and saw beauty in the darkest, gloomiest weather.
Krafft served as the president of the Milwaukee Men’s Sketch club. He often lead groups to paint outdoors in Northern Wisconsin in winter; planting their easels in snow banks and painting until they were so cold their fingers would not work. When he moved to Lake Geneva in 1971, he and his wife Olga founded a similar group who took to the fields to sketch and paint in the summer, painting still life set-ups in winter.

Information from askart.com