School Visits

I've begun my school visits for the new school year and have been to some wonderful places thus far in New York and Philadelphia. My program "A Day In The Life Odf A Book" is always well received by students and teachers alike.  In fact, teachers often get more excited about it than the students.  They have the chance to get inside the book illustration process and see original work.  I'm including a link here to a video which tells a bit about my school program and workshops so you can get a better idea of what I do.  My program  meets Arts-In-Education standards in an interesting and entertaining way and brings visual art to places that often have cut classes due to budget constraints.  My visit inspires young students to work for what they want and do their best!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gtxp3g6jAc
You can also visit http://encoreperforming.com/ to book a school visit and learn some more.

Meeting Charles Santore

It's not often that you get to meet one of your idols and having that person turn out to be as impressive as you'd imagined is a bonus. I took a chance and called illustrator Charles Santore a few weeks back and told him I'd be in town. I asked if he would have time to meet with me and, without hesitation, he invited me to his studio. Mr. Santore was as nice a person as one could hope for. I had the opportunity to see many of his original paintings which were illustrations for his wonderful books. Snow White, The Wizard of Oz and Santa Claus to name a few. We spoke about illustration and he gave me his opinion of my own work which was encouraging and complimentary. He also gave me some advice on making my work even stronger. I value his suggestions. This was a great chance for me to see the artist at work on a new project as well. This is one day I won't soon forget.

Rhinebeck Paintout '09

Painting on location is one of the best things an artist can do and I took advantage of the opportunity at the latest "Paint-Out" event for Barrett Art Center. My watercolor painting , 20"x20", on paper was completed in four hours, framed and ready for the auction that followed. The day was overcast so I improvised lighting with cast shadows...experience gained from painting outdoors. The building was constructed and used to sell homemade and used goods during WWII, by relatives of FDR. Interesting architecture and history.

Time Flies

I've been so busy with interesting illustration and painting projects. "Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea" published by Soundprints, Inc., has finally been released and looks great! I also finished the research intensive b/w artwork for a Dover coloring book, "The History of The Whitehouse". I'm currently working on some other Dover projects.

I'm also showing my fine art paintings at the local Starbucks and at the Marist College Faculty art exhibit. It's a great digital photo self portrait hanging alongside a new b/w acrylic painting I did for the show. In fact, it's a painting I've been waiting to get to and the exhibit was a great chance to finally get it done. I'll be launching a new website soon as well as updating this blog more regularly so stay tuned.

Morning, Starr

Getting out of the studio, to paint outdoors, is a wonderful opportunity I always embrace. I recently took time to paint for a fundraiser for my local art center. The day was perfect and as I scouted my place to paint I came upon this structure, The Starr Library...perfect time of day too. With the right amount of editing, this scene became one I was compelled to paint.

Painting. Painting.

Painting for illustration and exhibition takes up most of an artist's time. I'm no exception.
Even when not working on a project I always encourage young artists to continue to create new works. It's also a good time to learn about and experiment with, new media and techniques. My most recent painting was done for the faculty art exhibit at Marist College. I passed by this scene last year and have been waiting to get down what I remembered from a quick sketch done on a pamphlet. Sometimes something strikes you and you've got to do it.

Narwhal Artwork

Here is a sample of the pictures I created for the Narwhal book.