Reynold Henry Weidenaar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He attended both Davis Tech and Kendall School of Design, where he would later become a professor, before enrolling at the Kansas City Art Institute. There, he became a mainly self-taught etcher. In 1944, he returned to Michigan and married Ilse Eerdmans, a local painter.

During his career, he became nationally recognized for his technical abilities as both a draftsman and a printmaker, especially his mezzotint prints. Weidenaar was among the first artists to revive the challenging medium of mezzotint. To do so, he designed and hand-crafted many of his own tools. His dedication to experimenting allowed him to push the mezzotint process to create dramatic and rich images. Weidenaar also painted, favoring oil paint for its ability to create dramatic light and color.

In both his prints and paintings, Weidenaar favored depicting scenes of mid-century America, both rural and industrial. His art often embodied scenes of daily life, architecture, and landscapes that highlighted both the natural world and the man-made.

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