The Story

   In my early years, my family circled the world, courtesy of the US Air Force, learning and seeing first-hand, many cultures and histories. My good fortune has led me to seek to share the sense of awe I learned for the different and wonderful things in life , to capture them in time, for present and future generations to reflect upon.

    The journey began at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, where my father was the Weather Officer for the first U.S. rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, in 1950. I watched it soar overhead from the beach in front of the former Officers Club at Patrick. Since Mars Pathfinder, in 1996,  I have been back out at the Cape, recording the USAF, NASA, and commercial launches and have over 270 on film to date.

     In between, I've been lucky to..... as that Air Force brat, travel the globe soaking up classical cultures and the art of Civilizations and Masters as we went… return to Florida to watch the first unimaginably brave warriors take dangerous rides atop huge firecrackers... cover the first (and, tragically, the last) mission of Columbia, the first shuttle Launched in 1981 ... be blessed to share a quiet dinner with Alan Shepard talking about an old watering hole, the (now lost) Tradewinds Hotel, in Indialantic, on the beach south of the Cape...

     Since 1996, and the Pathfinder launch, I have been covering the launches at Cape Canaveral -- journeys as varied as the Mars Rover Explorers, John Glenn's return to flight, and perhaps man's first permanent foothold in space. With still and video cameras, laptops and cell phones, we capture the record as humanity steps to reach for the stars.
 

The Vision

     I work to emulate several artists of the past as I create my own unique works.  My Space Launch Series follows the historical record of Matthew Brady during the Civil War, and my Wildlife Series pays heavy tribute to William Bartram, who catalogued flora and fauna on the St. Johns River (the studio is located in the St. Johns watershed) from 1783-1786 (and his father John Bartram a few years before), as well as John James Audubon, who created some of his famous art here in 1832.  Following their stunning examples, I spin off my own reflections, hundreds of years after those masters, and wonder what they will find here hundreds of years from now.  I marvel at the fact that much of the area remains the same in spite of the tremendous pressures that population growth has brought. 

     Two of my series juxtaposed, Space Launch and Wildlife, combine to create a favorite exhibition - 'Birds of a Feather ...'.  a real-world example of the coexistence of man's most technologically advanced and challenging undertaking, with some of the most beautiful and endangered birds in the world,  within sight of the launch towers at the Cape.  This installation debuted at the Visitor Complex at Kennedy Space center in July, August, and September of 2008, and recently completed a 2 month showing at the museum, le Centre Franco Americain -- The French American Center, in Manchester, New Hampshire.

     Other series include New York/Central Park, New Orleans/French Square , 356 Porsches, Sundance ,Vanishing Florida , Florida Groves, Maine Coast, Blue Ridge Mountains,  Washington D.C.,  Aphrodite, Port Canaveral Stewardship Series, and the Viera Stewardship Series, and the occasional piece of 'wild' art. 

     I am in the process of compiling a coffee-table book entitled ' Emerging Florida: a Portrait, or,  A Brief Illustrated History of the United States'.  Brevard County, where I have lived for over 5 decades, is the site of both the first recorded western footstep on the continental US   (http://www.newworldexplorersinc.org/FountainofYouth.pdf, page 15, footnote (4)), and the world's first and continuing space exploration effort.  I have also begun my third book,  'Immigrant's Grandson -- the Life of the First American Space Brat...'  perusing the transformation from the atomic to the information age.

     Collections: United States Air Force Permanent Collection, NASA, Jerry Seinfeld, Robert Redford, City of Orhangazi, Turkey, Lady Eleanor Kristensen, Melbourne /Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce, Port Canaveral Stewardship Series,  Viera Stewardship Series, and private collections.

     Associations:   Member, Air Force Artists Program. 

The Medium: Oil on Silver Gelatin

    The choice of media for my artwork is likely the earliest form of color photography, commonly known as ‘hand-colored’ photography. This technique uses a black and white photograph -- a gelatin silverprint ( that is, a silver-salts image on a durable backing) as a base for oil paints that are applied directly to the print surface.

    The oils used are the same as those used by traditional oil painters  ,  absent the titanium white used to hide the canvas.

    In addition to the unusual look of this media, it offers great archival properties.  Silver gelatins resist fading and oil paints have been proven to hold up for hundreds of years. The look, while it can be quite contemporary, also lends itself to reflecting things from the past, especially history-related subjects.  The media also allows me fine opportunities to enhance depth.  It is becoming increasingly rare in the day of digital photography.

    To create my art, I:

    * compose and shoot B&W negatives --Tri X film -- with a Nikon F2/MD12 35mm single lens reflex camera

    * develop the film in total darkness

    * select, compose, print, and develop individual images as silver gelatins, using chemical processes, under very low safety-light conditions

    * touch-up imperfections  (dust, threads, eyelashes, etc. that were on the negative after cleaning -- they have a native static charge) on the surface

      of the silver gelatin image, using a brush.

    * apply the oils on the silver gelatin using human digits, not computer digits -- what I like to call 'original digital'.
 

Epilog

  The finished work approaches the appearance of a photo-realistic oil painting. I have learned to modify the technique by fully saturating the colors, rather than achieving the original pastel effect used from the late 1800's through the 1950's, when color film began to replace the ‘hand-colored’ technique).  I have coined the term full chroma to describe my spin on this medium.  I am not so concerned with image sharpness,  letting the work itself trend a bit more to impressionism.

    I work to use methods that are up close and personal, that find their core in the tactile nature of real hand work.  The works, other than occasional changes in colors, physically capture of the reality of the instant.  This gives them a historical imprimatur when compared with an oil painting -- an unusual twist to art.

  " In the (not too distant?) future, most hands will be tempted to touch nothing — artists will tell computers what to do to create their art (comment made 16th of October, 2006), and the computers will execute. New note:  June 22nd, 2007 -- just today  an article on the internet heralded the ability to control a toy train with one's thoughts, thru the use of a chip implanted in the brain.  This is the true beginning of 'bio-control' (my word).   Next note: February 27th, 2009 -- using functional magnetic resonance imaging, FMRI, the user can scan your brain (soon remotely), and tell whether you are thinking about a hammer, sex, or whatever.  Latest note:  computers are now being accessed simply by thinking.  January, 2010.   

 The intimate hands-on approach, ironically, creates 'invisible' flaws not evident in digital art, a fact that I believe will make it more valuable in the future. I will continue to create as long as the materials I have been using over the last 30+ years still exist (they are beginning to disappear) and my hands still work.
         

LFCB,  Blue Sawtooth Studio,  March 2010