Reef Encounter Painting

John was born in Columbus Ohio, graduated from Ohio State and lived in the mountains of Southern California for 20 years. Although John learned to draw and paint as a young boy, his degrees are in the computer science field. It wasn't until 2010, when his wife bought him a large easel and encouraged him to start painting again, that he began to take his art career seriously. Since then John has been selected in a number of gallery shows and juried contests, including the National Oil & Acrylic Painter's Society 2013 International On-line Exhibition and 2014 Best in America show. John's Carousel Horse #1 was featured in the June 2014 issue the Artist's magazine Competition Spotlight, and he was featured in the 'Artists to Watch' section of the Southwest Art March 2016 edition. John's acrylic painting have been included in AcrylicWorks Best of Acrylic Painting volumes 1-6, his Faces #4 was voter FAV15% in Bold Brush (May 2019) and Symphony in Color won Best in Show for the Fusion Art-Lines, Shapes & Colors Exhibition. For the last several years John has been living and working in Dayton Ohio. Many of the scenes of his recent paintings are taken from the woodland parks and scenic back roads in the area. His 'Fountain Frolic', a painting depicting children playing in the fountains at RiverScape Metropark is hanging in the Governor's Offices as part of the Ohio Art loan program. John works with heavy body acrylics on fairly large canvases with a lot of detail and bold colors. He calls his style 'realistic impressions' because, while the overall feel of the work is definitely realism, he offsets the detail with impressionistic splashes of color to emphasize the complex relationship of light and shadow over form. John's inspiration comes from the hidden beauty in ordinary objects. John is a Signature Member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters (ISAP), and a long time member of the National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society (NOAPS).