I knew I wanted to be an artist at age eleven. It came over me like an out-of-body experience. Simply put, I was leafing through an old Post magazine, the illustrations for the stories having caught my eye in a very strong way. I didn’t care about the story or the content. I only cared about the visual pleasure I got from the color illustrations. In fact, I clearly remember the illustrator as being Steven Dohanos. This visual excitement made me want to paint it. I happened to have colored pastels which I put to use on paper. The picture was of a gorgeous woman with flowing auburn hair and a green dress. I was entranced, and this had an impact on me for the next 62 years.
I have been to some good schools including the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, NYU, and Pratt Institute from which I received my masters in Art Education in 1970. I’ve been a professional artist and teacher all my adult life on both a secondary and college level.
I would describe my art now as abstract impressionism in style, with the subject matter for the most part being landscapes, in particular images based on water reflections. They are moderate in size, about 20 x 30 inches, acrylic paintings on wood panel.
What keeps me going in my studio is the habit of
working on ideas and concepts either imagined or from photographic reference. I have done some digital manipulation, film photography and collage, however my prime interest is painting with acrylics in an imposto manner and also with the use of colored pencils and sponge to achieve texture.
My most inpired work has a certain amount of magic in it that borders on mysticism which I will try to describe as the following—Concepts will come about through sheer force of labor and work and then all of a sudden I’m in a new zone which is both emotional and spiritual. This is hard to put into words it must be experienced. It leaves me with a sense of insight and revelation. I feel like I am a medium for an idea which is outside of me which goes through my brain and has a limited duration. Once it has passed, if I had not captured it in paint, it is gone and I can’t retrieve it. It can be just a fragment of an idea but with a very real potency. Since I am in the habit of working fast I do not allow these visual mystical experiences to escape me.