About me
For the past fifteen years my artistic passion has been plein air landscape painting! This offers a never ending challenge and a constant stream of fresh experiences. Painting en plein air gets its name from the French for outside in the open air. Artists love fancy words for simple things.
Plein air painting is currently the fastest growing movement in art. There is an annual convention with draws over a thousand painters world wide. Plein air festivals take place somewhere almost every week of the year.
Painting outdoors from life has a long history. Artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci would bring sketching materials into the field to record nature as they saw it. The practice really took off in the 19th Century with the introduction of tubed paints. This made it easier for artists to bring their materials on location. The Impressionists in France were inspired by capturing the shifting light on subjects observed directly. Artists who followed such as Vincent Van Gogh and John Singer Sargent worked en plein air to produce finished canvases. Others such as the artists of the Hudson River School and the Canadian Group of Seven would produce plain air studies and sketches that they would use as references for large, finished studio works. Our local Adirondacks were an inspiration for such noted artists as Winslow Homer and Frederic Remington. I have set up my easel and painted the same views from the same spots as some of the legends of painting. It is a humbling experience.
Artist CV
-
SLC Arts Member Show
-
Plein Air Painting in China with Lian Quan Zhen
-
2013 Potsdam Community Gallery Project Art Walk
East Meets West weeklong intensive with Lian Quan Zhen
Plein Air Acadia with Catherine Hillis
Plein Air in Rwanda, painted mural at Ubushubozi Women’s Sewing Cooperative
Creative Spirit Show At Creative Spirit Katya Greer Memorial Gallery
-
VIC Show, Visitor Information Center, Paul Smiths
Adirondack Plein Air Festival
Lougheed Arts Festival
SLC Arts Studio Tour
Taught Sumi-e and Chinese Brush Painting at Young People’s Art Festival
Potsdam Plein Air Festival, Juror’s Choice Award
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
-
Adirondack Plein Air Festival
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
Fins, Fur, and Feathers Show At Creative Spirit Katya Greer Memorial Gallery
-
NYSCA Grant Application Review Panel
Remington Arts Festival, Canton
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
-
Plein Air Convention and Expo Monterey
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
East Meets West weeklong intensive with Lian Quan Zhen
NYSCA Grant Application Review Panel
SLC Arts Studio Tour
-
NYSCA Grant Application Review Panel
Thousand Islands Plein Air Festival
Frederic Remington Art Museum Members’ Juried Show
SLC Arts Member Show
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
SLC Arts Studio Tour
-
President Board of Directors SLC Arts
SLC Arts Member Show
Judge Fall Arts Show, Watertown, NY
SLC Arts Remington Festival
Plein Air Convention and Expo San Francisco
Frederic Remington Art Museum Members’ Juried Show
Frederic Remington Art Museum International Juried Show
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
SLC Arts Studio Tour
-
SLC Arts Member Show
SLC Arts Abstract Gallery Show
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
SLC Arts Studio Tour
-
Plein Air Exhibit at TAUNY
Frederic Remington Art Museum Members’ Juried Show, Second Place
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
-
Massena Artists Association, 2nd place watercolor
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
-
Massena Artists Association 2nd place watercolor, Honorable Mention watercolor
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
-
Massena Artists Association, 3rd place oil
NYSCA Grant Application Review Panel
Publisher’s Invitational: Paint Adirondacks
SLC Arts Fall’s Full Display Show
-
SLC Arts Board of Directors Vice President
SLC Arts Action in the Kitchen Show
SLC Arts Landscapes of the North Country Show
Watercolor Live
Massena Artist Association Members Show
Adirondack Artists Guild Show, Saranac Lake, NY
Northwinds Fine Art Annual Juried Show, Saranac Lake, NY
Acrylic Live
SLC Arts Plein Air Festival, Juror
Massena Artists Association Juried Show, 3rd place watercolor
SLC Arts Abstract Journeys Show
SLC Arts Decay Show (upcoming)
Massena Artists Oversized Show (upcoming)
Massena Artists Open Show (upcoming)
Working en plein air offers both artistic and practical challenges. The potential subjects are unlimited and the world is vastly larger than even the biggest canvas. What to include and what to leave out? Do you paint a sweeping panoramic visit? Or focus in on a tiny delicate flower? How do you capture the colors and light of nature?
“Conditions are always changing. The sun moves across the sky, causing shadows to shift and bringing to light new details. Clouds come and go. There are the challenges posed by weather, it can be scorching hot, freezing cold, windy or pouring rain. Curious onlookers both human and animal can provide close encounters. More than one horse or cow has decorated its nose with a splotch of paint from an artist’s canvas!”
“There are moments of sheer magic. I have had a mink sun itself on the rocks by my easel while I quietly painted. Birds have perched and posed for portraits. Nothing beats the sounds of a mountain stream on a quiet afternoon. There is a wonder shared with people who may be watching a working artist for the first time. “Where is the photograph?” “I live in that house!” “It’s like magic to watch!”
Get in touch.
If you’d like to reach out, please fill out the form and I will get back to you shortly.