Don is a self-taught, impressionist/realist landscape painter specializing in small, 8×8 works using acrylic paint. For many years, he photographed and sold prints of the many beautiful landscapes in the Mount Washington Valley. However, dissatisfied with the limitations of photography, Don transitioned to landscape painting five years ago and has since found the freedom of expression that was lacking with his photos.
Don was born in California, grew up in Indiana and, upon seeing the White Mountains for the first time, moved to New Hampshire thirty years ago. He has been living and hiking in the Mount Washington Valley for the past twenty years and it is in these mountains that he gets the inspiration for many of his landscapes.
Since making the transition from photography to painting, Don has had several very successful solo shows and has participated in group shows with the Mount Washington Valley Arts Association, the Women’s Rural Entreprenure Network (WREN) gallery and the Cold Water Cafe in Bethlehem, NH, the Snowvillage Inn in Snowville, NH, various valley libraries and, for the past five years, has exclusively shown and sold his work in the Cassidy Gallery when it was in Jackson, NH and, most recently, when the Gallery moved to Conway, NH. Thanks to the wide variety of people who visit the Valley, Don’s paintings now reside in many Valley homes as well as in homes across the U.S. and Europe.
Finally, Don does not title his pieces in the traditional way. He has found that people are unconsciously influenced by the title of a painting. Though his pieces may depict a particular scene from his experience, that same piece may recall a different place by the viewer. Titling a piece tells the viewer that it depicts “this” place rather than a favorite “that” place in the viewer’s memory. Therefore, he merely indicates the date on which it was completed. He leaves it to the viewer to title it.
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