Experience of Painting

 

 

My travels recently have taken me to scenery near water, be it oceanside or mountain lake. Working plein air with watercolor, the excitement of the moment can sometimes be captured with a surface freshness that is compelling. When I take this experience, with some photographs, back to the studio to start an oil painting, a different process evolves. What was once a momentary image spreads out to several months of shifting views. This slower process challenges me as I observe the intricacies sunlight can produce on water or land. Memories of the original experience slowly unfold.

I discovered in nature the nonutilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a game of intricate enchantment and deception.

--Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory

Scenery seems to wear in one's consciousness better than any other element in life.... I have often been surprised to find what a predominant part in my own spiritual existence it has played....

     -- William James

Seventh-century Chinese Chan Buddhist master Hongren advised:  Work, work!... Work!  Don't waste a moment... Calm yourself, quiet yourself, master your senses.  Work, work!  Just dress in old clothes, eat simple food...Work, work...Work!

Resume

Solo Exhibitions

Chestnut Hill Gallery, Philadelphia, Paintings by the Sea, 2011

Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, 2009

Chestnut Hill Gallery, Philadelphia, Wissahickon Oil Landscapes, 2006

F.A.N. Gallery, Philadelphia, Recent Watercolor & Oil Landscapes, 1998

Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, Italian Journeys: Figures & Landscapes, Oils, 1996

Artists House Gallery, Philadelphia, Monhegan Island, Watercolors, 1995

University City Art League, Philadelphia, Oils & Watercolors, 1994

Alden Park Manor, Philadelphia, Italian Landscapes, Oils & Watercolors, 1992

Alden Park Manor, Philadelphia, Landscapes, Gouache, 1991

Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Saranac Lake, Watercolors, 1974

Group Shows

P.A.F.A. Fellowship Juried Show, 2013

     Awarded Lucy Glick Award for Excellence in Any Medium

P.A.F.A. Alumni Gallery Opening Exhibit, 2010

Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME, “The Environment of Landscape”, 2005

Krasdale Galleries, White Plains, N.Y., “The Artful Philadelphians,” Invited, 2005

Main Line Art Center, Invited, 2005

Swan Gallery, Invited, 2005

Woodmere Members Exhibition, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

     Awarded Albert W. Lofgren Prize for Landscape, 2002

P.A.F.A. Fellowship Annual, 2003, 2004, 2005

Fan Gallery Invitational, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004

P.A.F.A. Alumni Juried Show, 2002

Philadelphia Sketch Club Juried Oil Paintings, 1998, 1999, 2002

Philadelphia Sketch Club Juried Watercolor Show, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002

Artists’ Equity Millennial Juried Exhibition, 2001

Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, 1976, 2001

103rd Annual P.A.F.A. Fellowship Juried Exhibition, 2000

     Awarded Jack Bookbinder Landscape Prize

Third St. Gallery 2nd Annual Juried Show, 1998

Penn Charter Annual Juried Show, 1998

Woodmere Art Museum 58th Annual Juried Exhibition, 1998

Juried P.A.F.A. Fellowship Exhibit, Chester Springs, PA, 1997

Thomas McCormick, Group Show, Chicago, IL, 1995, 1996-97

99th Annual P.A.F.A. Fellowship Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, 1996

Contemporary Realism II, Juror Sidney Goodman, 1996

98th Annual P.A.F.A. Fellowship Juried Exhibition, Westchester, PA, 1995

University of Pennsylvania Faculty Club, 1995

Group Shows as Member of Philadelphia Abstract Artists

Fleischer Art Memorial, Philadelphia, 1969

Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, 1964

Tien Shsia Gallery, Philadelphia, 1962

Penn Center Gallery, Philadelphia, 1962

Philadelphia Gallery, Philadelphia, 1961

Philadelphia Gallery, Philadelphia, 1960

Fleischer Art Memorial, Philadelphia, 1959

Parma Gallery, New York, 1958

Fleischer Art Memorial, Philadelphia, 1957

Carlen Gallery, Philadelphia, 1957

Permanent Collections

Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME

Numerous Private Collections

Education

Fleischer Art Memorial, 1950-1955

Barnes Foundation, 1977-78

European Studies, 1979-1997

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1991-95

Abstractions

Abstract Expressionism. How exciting the words were to me back then. Once a month, a group of painters called the Philadelphia Abstract Artists would meet to discuss the new painting we were all involved in.  At the time, jazz, Zen Buddhism and beat poetry were in the air, and they seemed to strengthen the idea of the spontaneous gesture.  We were rejecting the past and inventing a new painting.  De Kooning was the painter most admired.

     

Maine

June 9, 1997, Monhegan Island

I have been here ten days, completely cut off from radio, television, newspapers, and I am perfectly content.  I rise early, about 6 a.m., small breakfast, then off to paint somewhere.  Home for lunch, then back out again for the rest of the afternoon while the light is strong.  Come back, stretch a few watercolor papers, view what I have done, then a glass of wine on the deck to watch the glorious sunset, play the guitar a little, then read myself to sleep, usually about 9:30.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

Watercolors On Site