High School Art Class

I never really liked to paint until 2000 when one of my gallery dealers suggested I add some color to my work. Up to that point I had been drawing, only working in pen & ink. When I started to paint, it was like working within the opposite end of my brain and a whole new world opened up to me - a world of color! There seemed to be so much more I could do than with just plain black and white. I bring this up because I have my very first painting sitting in my studio. I call it my first because it is actually the first painting I ever did in high school.

When I attended good old Trenton Central High, my art class, taught by Mr Tibbs was full of students with no real knowledge of art. I remember that there was one other guy in the class who had had some prior training in art classes, so while everyone else was learning about perspective, Mr Tibbs set the two of us to work on painting canvases. My model was named Sylvia and truthfully, she looked absolutely nothing like my portrait of her. I distinctly remember Mr Tibbs showing me how to use highlights in the background to bring out the figure in the foreground. Though I seemed to have some trouble with the placement of the model’s ear (lol), all in all it was a good start. It was also my first and only time using oils. Maybe I should think about trying them again. (Only problem with that is that oils take so long to dry and I’m known for doing paintings at the last minute - but you didn’t hear that from me…)

My Day Job

How many people can say that they love what they do for a living? Well, I love what I do…most all the time. The great thing about my job is that I am an artist as my full-time job. I work for Wegmans Food Markets and I am the Sign shop artist for the store. I’m in charge of creating the overall look of the store with signs and setting them up to sell product. Its really a lot of fun as well as creative and challenging. I’ve posted a few of the projects I’ve worked on. Unfortunately they’re not the greatest photos.

The Klimt Connection

I wanted to touch on one of my other influences, Gustav Klimt. He had such a way with color and pattern, that I find his work absolutely fascinating! I looked at his technique and his use of pattern and color and I tried to imitate it in a few of my works. I experienced a breakthrough in the process. I discovered the layers of translucence that I can get with glazes. Glazing is painting an area with thinned out color over and over so that the end result is, well… translucent. Its hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.




My first 3 paintings using this technique were ones of my Trento series: The first was Trentette Barrettes, second was Trentiplenties and the third, which I think was the best, was Trentotex Fabrics. The glazing was used with all three, but the usage of pattern came more with the latter two. I just found so much enjoyment from the interplay of the shapes and colors.
This glazing technique as well as the use of shapes similar to Klimt’s (in spirit at least), carried over into later work - which leads me to one of my paintings that I’m most proud of ; The Smit Family portrait.




Klimt used figures in a dream-like state in a good number of his paintings. This ethereal, airy feeling was one I thought I’d use to portray the family. There was a lot to incorporate into the picture: representations of 3 countries - USA, England and Holland as well as 5 people. Needless to say, using Big Ben, tulips, windmills, and the NYC skyline with a floating family was a tall task. Now, I’m no Klimt by any means, but as artists, what we are always doing is taking new ideas and elements wherever we find them and adding them to our own - making a whole new thing. That’s art!

Usable Art

Today I’m posting some of the more utilitarian items I’ve designed.
The first is my church’s 200th anniversary plate, next is a writing pen called Happy, which I designed for Acme Studio of Hawaii, and next is the business card case which complements the Happy pen.
They all kinda’ connect to my earlier post about the Bi-polar pendulum and how I like to make “happy” art as the bright colors and designs are meant to evoke feelings of ease and joyfulness.

Regarding the church plate, I wanted to do something different than most other anniversary plates that are made. Most show a photo or illustration of a church building. I the building is only a structure. The true church is the people - they are the life of what is called the church. I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to say that I am a part of this congregation - this family. In this, I visualized the actions that represent what my church does; prayer, communion, singing, working together, visiting the sick - these are the important things. I hope I did it justice.

The Happy pen and card case are sold in boutiques and stores all over the world.
As a side note , you may notice that in many of my art pieces you will see different ethnicities. I feel its important to show a wide range of people; large people, small people, different colors. Can you believe though that someone actually had the nerve to be offended that I didn’t put any “colored” faces on my happy pen? Hello… the white is a design element, not an indicator of ethnicity. Some people can be real idiots - and I say that respectfully. You can’t please everybody.