George Wardwell
GEORGE WARDWELL — I was born in Maine in 1946. The day after graduating (but without a diploma) from Old Orchard Beach High School, I left and wandered extensively, living for a time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, back to Portland, Maine and again in Boston before settling in midcoast Maine in a home by the water, where I married Melanie in the summer of 2000.
I have a lovely stepdaughter and three very wonderful, active grandchildren, with whom I finger paint whenever they come to visit. I am also a lyricist for the music of Tom Dean, and have written songs with James Montgomery and Devonsquare.
In the spring of 2005, I decided to take up oil painting, and that has kept me occupied (some would say pre-occupied) ever since. Stay tuned.
"I started painting when I came across an article in American Art Review about the Martino family, three brothers, a wife and two daughters, who painted urban and rural Philadelphia from early in the 1900's until the present. I was so taken by their work that I dragged Melanie to a family retrospective at the Woodmere Museum in Chestnut Hill, a Philadelphia suburb. A museum guide told me that a lot of their paintings were done in Manayunk, which lies a few miles north of the city center along the Schuykill River, and only five miles from the museum. So off we went, where I took a lot of photos and came back to Maine eager to paint.
It's hard to say what catches my interest, because that changes day-to-day. I am fascinated in the hand of man on the landscape, whether it's buildings, bridges, highways or factories. I also am curious about light, and, since I started painting, I see a lot more going on with light that I ever did before."
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300 Channels18x24original oilGeorge Wardwell |
Richmond Church Hill16x20original oilGeorge Wardwell |
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Richmond Gas Works24x40original oilGeorge Wardwell |
Ladies' Entrance16x20original oilGeorge Wardwell |
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Lucielle's28x22original oilGeorge Wardwell |
Richmond Alley20x24original oilGeorge Wardwell |
