First stage of underpainting complete.
The Wyckoff Suburban News article will be published in the July 29th edition, and I'm told may be picked up by close to 40 other NJ newspapers.
I'm thinking of writing a book on my life as an artist. Here is a bit of what I have written so far. Excuse any typos or errors, I type fast.
HISTORY
I began my artistic journey as a boy with a gift for drawing
and a passion for light and color.
I remember vividly at a very young age that I could look at objects in
my Grandmother’s home, which were quite ornate and beautiful and draw them very
realistically with colored pencils and crayons on paper. I would stare into Christmas ornaments
hanging from the tree with my nose pressed up against them, marveling and
completely transfixed by the way the surrounding room appeared as a
curved, differently colored and
distorted reflection in each one.
It was fascinating to me and has stayed with me ever since. I remember fondly the feeling of pride,
accomplishment and satisfaction whenever I would finish a drawing or painting
in elementary school at my little desk, with all of my classmates gathered
around me amazed at what I was creating.
I continued drawing and painting in college, taking many
courses that were offered as electives, that confirmed my natural abilities in the field of
visual arts. I never once for a
moment thought of these classes as a burden or simply as schoolwork, just pure
joy and fun. Upon graduation, I
moved to California and was
mesmerized and inspired by the brilliant light and beauty of
the Pacific coast. It was here in
Los Angeles, that I embarked on a serious attempt at a career in the fine
arts. I loved the pop-culture
iconography of the funky architecture found on the streets of LA, and started
painting after work and on weekends in earnest. The West Coast had a tremendously profound effect upon me
and it was at this time that I realized that painting was my true calling. I returned to New York a few years
later to enroll in the prestigious Art Students’ League on 57th
Street in Manhattan to take classes and study with some of the finest artists
and teachers working in their respective mediums. It was not only the interaction between student and Master
which guided and influenced my path at this point, but the interplay and
exchanges of ideas and intelligence between my fellow students and I. There is no feeling in the world like
being bound together with like-minded
people, having a common
cause and goal of furthering ones education. I remember the feeling of ecstasy and elation every time I
would walk into that storied and hallowed building and get the initial aroma of
oil paint and turpentine first thing in the morning. There was nothing more powerful to get the creative juices
flowing than that experience.
Once I had finished my studies in New York, I returned to my
home state of New Jersey to dedicate my life to capturing the quickly disappearing local
landmarks that I grew up with in Bergen County. To some people these buildings and structures are relics
destined for demolition to forge a path for urban gentrification, but to me
they are important cultural icons that should be preserved at all costs. I remember an incident that set me on
my current path of the documentation of these charming old places. I was sitting in my car at a red light,
not really thinking of anything in particular, when I happened to glance to my
left and saw the Rochelle Park barbershop. I had never seen this place before or even knew it existed,
but I felt an immediate connection to it.
It looked to me like a time capsule that time had forgotten. It had not changed much since it opened
50 years prior, and I knew instinctively at that very moment that I must
document it before it was gone and forgotten forever.
Over the last 25 years, my work has been included in multiple
group and one-person exhibitions and has been purchased by many private
collectors. I have had my work
hung at Kerygma Gallery in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Mason-Murer Gallery in
Atlanta, Georgia, Plus One Gallery in London, England, Elliot Fouts Gallery in
Sacramento, California, Sola Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Lois
Richards Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut and Westwood Gallery, in Westwood,
New Jersey. My work has been
featured in several media outlets including The New York Times, The Bergen
Record, Ridgewood NJ News,
Provincetown Arts magazine, (201) magazine, Art in America magazine, The E Jean
Carrroll television show and on News 12 NJ television. I have also has one of my paintings,
The Bendix Diner, featured on a billboard in my home state of New Jersey.
TECHNIQUE
As I drive around in the car, whether it is doing mundane
chores, dropping the kids off or picking them up from school or going to a
travel hockey game. I am always on the look out for the next perfect subject to
transform into a painting. I ride
my bicycle around New Jersey and New York City quite frequently with the same
goal in mind. I have a keen eye
for observation and compositional structure in nature, and spend countless
hours searching for the next historic landmark that may be in danger of
disappearing, that I feel I must preserve on canvas. I imagine in my head what the best time of day or night
would be for each subject to reach my ultimate goal of producing a treasured
memory in paint for decades to come.
I feel as though I have an obligation to document and record these
places for future generations so they may have some idea of how things used to
be and how fleeting many things are in our neighborhoods. Once I find a special subject
during my travels, I am ready to begin the process of creating a painting.
I photograph the intended subject from multiple angles and
during different times of day when possible, to maximize the effects of light
and shadow and to arrive at the best possible composition. I also sketch the subject on site with
either pencils or oil paint to gather more information that will serve me when
I return to the studio to begin the final rendition. I speak with the home owners or business owners and
employees when possible as well to get a more personal feeling about their
establishments and to make a human connection to the site. I enjoy having an emotional connection
to my physical subjects as well as an understanding of the feelings of pride
and passion that these folks have towards their homes and places of work. I eat at the diners, I get my hair cut
at the barbershops and really try to immerse myself in these places that
eventually will become painted heirlooms for a lifetime. All of these support materials are then
brought back with me to my studio to begin creating the work of art.
The next step in the creative process is to decide on the
proper dimensions for the painting, whether it is in landscape or portrait
format. I stretch the primed linen
canvas over wooden stretcher bars much like one would reupholster a piece of
furniture. I then draw a basic
rough sketch of the subject onto the stretched canvas with pencil or
charcoal. I don’t feel that it is
necessary to draw much detail in at this early stage, which in turn allows me
the freedom to add or delete details with paint and brush during subsequent
stages, keeping the painting fresh and spontaneous. It is also at this juncture of my creative endeavor that I will spend some time envisioning
what the final product will look like. I will meditate over the canvas, going
over in my head all aspects of it regarding color temperature, value placement,
elegance of line drawing, brush strokes, paint texture, composition and visual
poetry. It is very similar
to what an athlete goes through in his or her mind in preparation for
competition. By the time I am
ready to touch brush to canvas, I have a fully formed picture in my head of the
finished painting. It is just a
matter of execution, work ethic and passion at this point to arrive at my
intended final vision for each piece.
The initial underpainting stage is begun with a thin
turpentine wash of oil color to block in all areas of light and dark to set the
parameters of the composition. I
keep the brushwork very loose and free at this juncture, knowing that in the
following application of paint layers the painting will become increasingly
more detailed and focused. I try
to eliminate all the white of the canvas at this stage to more accurately get a
sense of color harmony and value structure as the painting moves forward. This is the same technique that many of
the Old Masters used to construct their work. It is also at this early stage that I start thinking about
color relationships regarding warm versus cool color temperature and
complementary contrasts. I utilize
opposite colors on the color spectrum wheel while blocking in paint to enhance
the feeling of vibration and to optimize the feeling of light and atmosphere. I paint in all natural elements of the
scene with complementary color
schemes and try to use them to my best advantage in the following application
of paint layers. For example, I
will underpaint sky and water areas with an orange color which will have the
opposite color blue applied over them in the next painting session, which causes an optical vibration in
the viewers’ eye. Trees, grass and
bushes are handled similarly with a red underlayer followed by green overlayers. Using broken brushwork throughout the
painting, I can maximize this vibrating optical effect. When some of the opposite colors in the
underpainting are able to show through the overpainting in various spots on the canvas, a real
feeling of light and space is achieved.
This is how the Impressionists constructed their paintings and is a
scientifically proven way to make a flat canvas surface look as though if has
depth and distance when the scene is completely painted in.
As I paint this initial part of the scenery, I am also
keenly aware of the various
objects that shall be included in the paintings’ surface texture. I am mindful that bricks, stones, mortar, stucco, asphalt, concrete and
pavement have to be handled much differently than glass, water, neon or any
reflective surfaces. It is this
handling of the paint texture throughout the painting process that makes these
works of art look larger than life and not just like a flat architectural
rendering with no soul or feeling whatsoever.
