So if my artwork appeals to you, that is my most significant credential.
After retiring from a career of government lawyering and law school teaching, then managing shoreline construction on the Chesapeake Bay, I was inspired by my irresistible grandchildren, whose portraits called out to be painted. So I started, cold, to paint them. Surprisingly soon, this led to solo gallery shows, awards, and selection as an Artist in Residence.
There had been a long lapse between my teen-aged exposure to painting still life in the Chicago studio of Ann Roman, and starting to paint portraits of my grandchildren. Once focused on their portraits, I joined an artists co-op to limber up working from life models, and also attended workshops with Rob Liberace at the Art League in Alexandria, VA. Rob is a generous teacher and recognized master, winning an International Grand Prize in portraiture. So his immediate reaction on first seeing me at an easel in December, 2009, was gratifying. Surprised to learn I had not been painting all my life, he told me: “You can’t not paint!”
Awards
Thus encouraged, I did continue. In 2012, I was awarded a studio as Artist in Residence at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, MD. By 2013 my first solo exhibit of 22 portraits, “Seen Around Town,” was shown at the Maryland Federation of Art (MFA). Works in this first solo exhibit received three independent awards, being selected by individual judges from among all works of art shown at the MFA during its 50th anniversary year.
Since then, I’ve been selected by the Arts Council to exhibit at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and by the Maryland Society of Portrait Painters to exhibit at Quiet Waters Park. My work is regularly chosen for juried regional and national exhibits, including at the Mitchell Gallery and the Maryland Federation of Art. My second solo show on the contextual theme “Artistry in the Making” was exhibited at the Martino Gallery of Maryland Hall in 2015. And many of my drawings were in the “Sketches from Life” exhibit that year in Cambridge, MD. Submitting for the first time in 2015 a commissioned portrait, this was honored by the prestigious Portrait Society of America, chosen from over a thousand entries to their national competition. But then year 2016 saw a major house move and transition, with little painting done. Picking up brushes again in 2017, I was selected to be showcased at a major Arts and Wine Festival, while continuing to be shown in juried national shows, running a portrait artists’ cooperative studio, and being awarded First Place in oil painting for a portrait submitted to the Kent Island Federation of Art. More recently, my portrait was judged “Best in Show” at their 2018 exhibit.