Formal education for the artist began in a one-room schoolhouse in York County where on numerous occasions an impatient teacher applied a ruler to his fingers for drawing bunnies when he should have been doing seatwork. Thankfully, a truce was reached with the teacher before any real damage was done. His formal education eventually culminated in post-graduate work with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Education. A teacher and principal for some twenty years, the artist spent the next twenty years as a computer programmer at IBM. Basically a self-taught artist, he continues to attend art classes and workshops as his schedule allows.
“Watercolor, with its brilliance and fluidity, from abstractness to solid core realism, has always been my favorite choice of mediums. After selecting the elements I want to paint, I attempt to transfer what my mind sees to the watercolor paper. I usually begin with washes over selected parts of the paper to produce the under painting. When I’m satisfied with the colors there, I progress on to the more detailed parts of the work, many times painting over the initial washes as I go. Value, color and contrast all play an important part in creating my final work. I attempt to depict two dimensionally what I see as a three dimensional world. I try to capture the beauty and wonder of life and put it on a piece of paper.”
Currently the artist is a member of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, York Art Association, Hanover Area Arts Guild, Art Association of Harrisburg, Baltimore Watercolor Society, and the Adams County Arts Council. He enjoys entering and attending art exhibits and has been accepted into several juried competitions.
Coming soon...
John W Walker joined Pixels.com Licensing on October 19th, 2008.
