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I grew up on Cape Cod and four of my uncles were
fishermen, so it was natural to have an early interest in
marine and landscape subjects. I graduated from Butera
School of Art where I met my mentor and teacher, the well
known painter Marshall Joyce. (featured in American Artist
Feb 1977, you can still find examples of his wonderful
paintings on the Rockport Art Association’s website).
"Don’t just jump in. Twenty minutes of careful
observation before you begin is better then two hours of
making corrections later. Get it right from the first brush
strokes if you can." Those words, spoken nearly forty
years ago, were part of the classic fundamental instruction
from Joyce. His influence caused me to enter and win an
early award while still an art student at the Copley
Society’s Annual Winter Student’s Exhibition. I have
made my living as an artist my entire adult life. Beginning
my career as a commercial illustrator and recently making
the transition to fine art gallery painting.
It is very common to hear from artists that they have
been drawing since early childhood, It is the most natural
thing in the world for those of us that became artists, it
is a compulsion to create that we only begin to understand
later as adults. We are always interpreting, filtering, and
redefining the world around us through pictures before we
even understand why we do it. I do not limit myself
regarding subject matter, I am equally comfortable painting
portraits as landscape/marine, still life or wildlife. I
prefer a loose painterly approach, still representational
but no photgraphic. What could be better then the life of an
artist? It’s an early summer morning, I’m in Bar Harbor
and I have just set up my french easel. I can hear the waves
crashing against the rocks, smell the salt air and hear the
gulls The canvas is still a perfect white blizzard, not one
single brush stroke on it yet. Inspiration is taking hold
and maybe today magic happens? I don’t know a better way
to describe why I paint then that.
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