December, 2024
Plein air painting has been an extension of my love for nature and my experiences outdoors. My paintings reflect the nuance of color and value, that one can only get from direct observation. The more I paint outdoors the more intimate I become with my surroundings and the more I can share this intimacy and value for our environment with others. It is the journey, the adventure and the challenge to paint outdoors that keeps me energized.
Born and raised in Camillus, New York, I graduated from SUNY Buffalo with a BFA in Communication Design. After an established career as a graphic designer, art director and illustrator in upstate New York, Chicago, Tulsa and, Greenville South Carolina, my wife and I moved to Arizona. Captivated by my new surroundings I began my new career as a plein air painter as well as painting murals. In 2012, we moved to Maine where I traveled the state painting its blossoming springs, bucholic summers, flaming autumns and snowy winters! Yearly excursions to paint in the desert southwest had kept me tied to a place of searing raw beauty. In 2021 my wife and I returned to Arizona settling in the Sedona area where I continue to paint this surreal southwest landscape.
My medium of choice is oil. I prefer oil paints because they are time proven. They remain open so that one can have time to blend and adjust. Oils also remain workable for plein air painting in a wide range of temperatures allowing for the cold winter and hot summer conditions. I sketch in graphite and watercolor and when painting murals I use acrylics. Having the skills of a woodworker, I make many of my own frames giving my paintings an especially unique aspect to my work.
Through the years, I have been involved with community service. Before moving to Maine I served on the City of Goodyear Arts and Culture Commission, Three Rivers Historical Society Board of Directors, founder and designer of the Estrella Mountain Regional Park Centennial Trail and Chairman of the Centennial Trail Planning Committee. For two years I was the Master Artist for "Gallery 37", the West Valley Arts Council's public art program, directing high school art students to produce public art for West Valley Communities. I am a member of the Sedona Visual Artists Coalition, the Plein Air Painters of Maine., as well as a donor-
member of the Sedona Arts Center where I exhibit my work in the SAC gallery.