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.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Another falls painting from Acadia. As in the other Acadia paintings all the stone and rocks were done with palette knife. The finer lines in the fallen tree were also done with the knife.
The colbalt blue touches in the foreground water are much more subtle in the painting but the digital camera pulls them out way beyond the desired effect. In any case, you get the idea.
This painting fought me all the way as I didn't think the foreground fallen trees and limbs were big enough in the composition, however after working on some of the detail in the dead trees and the light reflections on the right I began to become more confident in the outcome.
The palette knife came in handy in this painting as well. The reds behind the rock are not as red as they are in the photo.
Below Hadlock Falls in Acadia National  Park is an ideal setting for a landscape. About half of the painting was done with a palette knife, most especially the rocks.
It was done on an 16x20 double primed oil linen board.