THE JOURNEY

I was schooled in the same fashion as most born in the mid 20th century
Elementary school, High School , College

I taught ART for a few years. Enfield and Ridgefield Ct.

But heard the call of the

and set out for San Francisco.

The JOURNEY...
I remember my trek across country as though it was yesterday, the back road discoveries; each area was like visiting another country. The changing landscape blew me away. The lush green trees of the east flattened out to yellow cornfields for endless miles. It was big sky country.   Then tips of distant mountain ranges teased us for days. What  a gorgeous country I thought, I want to paint it all.

RENO
Reno Nevada probably changed the direction of my life. I hit the Jackpot on a ' One Armed Bandit ' after only playing  $5.00. I bought drinks for the dozen people that were at the bar where we celebrated. ( just like they do in the movies)
I remember a guy from Ohio asking me what I did for a living, and without hesitation I said "I’m an ARTIST "...
I was, in my dreams… Reality Begins With  Dreams 

SAN FRANCISCO
Reno changed the direction of my life and San Francisco changed my ideas.
There is a can do ,you can do anything you want attitude out west that I found was the opposite of my safe east coast upbringing.
After a practical stint working in a bank, I opened up an Art Gallery (I still had my winnings from Reno )
This opened up the west coast art world to me. I learned a whole new way of looking at things. One old gentleman, a truly devoted artist, began to frequent my gallery, just to talk. He had been a student of the famous western painter Charles Russell.

Old Bill’s Paintings could have easily passed for his mentor’s.
We began a ritual of early morning painting trips to Marin County. I can’t begin to tell the  impact these sessions had on my work.

A variety of circumstances brought me back east where I ended up teaching  art  in Katonah NY, and pursuing art classes well beyond my Masters in Art from WCSU

PAINTING WITH THE MASTERS

I was one of 30 ,out of over a thousnd applicants to be accepted into the 30 day program which was an intense 24/7 being mentored by some of the most prestigious artists of the day……Larry Rivers, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackie Windsor, Eric Fischel, April Gornick,  just to name a few….. They would come to our studios and critique our work , and then we would visit them working in their studios.   When one of them said to me "…okay..you can paint, now just find the right subject” I thought I died and went to heaven…
The truth of the matter, It’s a combination of talent and the right image.
I’ve had the opportunities to paint subjects through my clients that I ordinarily would not have attempted.
I’m still looking for that magical subject that will put me on the museum map but until that happens I am loving what I am doing. and am making people happy with my work.