About Me

My photo
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. My educational history is as follows: Long Beach High School, School of Visual Arts, C.W.Post College, M.A. in Humanities, Hofstra University. A two year stint in the U.S.Marine Corps as a illustrator eased my entrance into civilian life as a commercial artist in N.Y.C. My teaching career of twenty five years began at the State University in Farmingdale, N.Y. and ended as a Professor of Fine Arts at Herkimer County Community College, where I was awarded The New York State Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. I now paint full time in Portland Maine where I live with my wife Sharon. I paint all subjects from portraits to landscapes but I especially love painting the sea. Last year marked the end of forty straight years of teaching workshops on Monhegan Island, Maine, I now conduct three day classes in Kennebunkport every spring and fall. My work can be seen at The Wiscasset Bay Gallery, Wiscasset, Me., Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Me.,Camden Falls Gallery, Caamden, Me. and here in my studio in Portland. I am a signature member of The American Watercolor Society and the New York State Watercolor Society.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Winter of 2011, Portland, Maine

It snowed just before we left for Mexico this February. The trees just outside my studio window were coated with heavy snow and the early morning light had just caught on the edge of the branches.
The painting was done in the studio after making several pencil sketches to get a good design of values.
It's a 16x20 oil on linen canvas board.
Once again the palette knife was used to do just about the entire painting including the dead wood on the trees.
I hiked a long way into Cathedral Woods on Monheagan unit I came to the base of Whitehead, the tallest cliff on Monhegan.
I tried, and I think sucessfully, to make a needed focal point at the base of the fallen tree.
The painting is a 16x20 oil on linen panel.

Bridge At Acadia

Acadia Fall

Here the pallet knife came in very handy. About three quarters of the painting was done with a medium knife. The water in this JEPG photo is much bluer than in the actual painting as water, of course, will reflect all the colors around it.
Unless your shooting with slide film the color in digital only approximates the true colors unless you shooting in what is  called RAW, which requires a very expensive photoshop program. In any case you get an idea of what the actual painting looks like.

Tide Pool Play

This painting is a 16x20 oil on linen canvas board. It went through many changes as I was not pleased with the composition. I added the two little boys with the yellow pail (my grandsons) and then the small figures at the surfs edge.
Thee is very little exaggeration of color in the tide pool as it actually comes from a fresh water spring near the beach and is filled with iron residue.