Joining the blog world...

I've decided to enter the "blog world". This site will be devoted primarily to my artwork, though other subjects may creep in from time to time. My long dormant interest in art was rekindled in the late 1990's when, during a move, I discovered an oil painting set given to me by my parents when I was a teenager. I remember following the painting instructions in the book that came with the set (something by Connie Gordon, I think). The paintings came out OK for what they were, and I still have some of them. However, when I tried to venture away from the book and paint on my own, the results were not suprisingly quite poor. I quickly lost interest and put the set aside, though it obviously traveled with me, stowed away in a box somewhere, for many years.

I did remain interested in art, though. My wife and I lived in the Albany NY area for about 8 years, and made numerous visits to the Sterling Clark museum in Williamstown MA. Fantastic art collection, if you're ever in the area. Then we had the good fortune to live in the Washington DC area for another 5 years, which meant many trips to the National Gallery of Art and other museums in the area. We then wound up near Richmond Virginia. The museums were not as plentiful, but the local art scene was fairly active.

It was in Virginia that I rediscovered that painting set...I played around with the paints a bit and finally decided to take a couple of classes. Along the way I met several artists who enjoyed painting outdoors...plein air painting. As soon as I started painting outdoors, I was hooked. My skills were not well developed, but I worked at it and produced a few decent paintings. A couple made it into juried shows at the now defunct Shockoe Bottom Art Center, and one was published in the 2003 calendar of the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond...though they spelled my name wrong.

Unfortunately, things came up that interfered with painting during my last year or so in Virginia. However, when my wife and I moved to Rochester in July, 2003, I was determined to start painting again. In early 2004 I heard about the WetCanvas online art community and became a regular participant in the plein air forum. I learned a lot there, and became more confident and interested in painting. Then in the fall I met a group of plein air painters in Rochester, a group of about 8 who painted outdoors at least once a week throughout the year. Going out with this group allowed me to get over my inhibitions about painting in public, and also exposed me to many new painting techniques...just seeing how different people painted the same scenery was an eye-opening experience. That, combined with the excellent advice of some wonderful artists on WetCanvas, helped me make some major strides in my painting ability.

Most recently, I've been involved in the development of the Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters. Based in Rochester, this is a group of 70 members who gather for paintouts at various locations around the Genesee Valley. We've had a judged/juried show each January. It's an exciting, active group with some extremely successful and talented artists. Hard to believe there's so many outdoor landscape painters in such a harsh climate. I feel very fortunate to have found such a group.