ABOUT THE ARTIST
As the owner of AVERY CREATIVE COMPANY, I am a painter of fine quality artworks.
I specialize in portraits of people and pets - in oils, acrylics, pastels and charcoal. I have been trained in watercolor, but prefer to use acrylics to create a watercolor effect.
My art studio is located in Birmingham, Alabama but I travel widely for live painting events.
EARLY INFLUENCES
Oil portrait of me at age 6 by my father.
Charcoal study by my father of me that later became a painting.
My father was an incredible larger-than-life man and skilled artist in his own right.
He co-founded the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and to this day his paintings hang in the Pentagon, the National Naval Museum in DC, and private collections all over the world.
But, my mother is really the creative one of the two!
No one thinks outside of the box like she does to this day. Together they were quite a team!
My father asked me to pose for his paintings quite often which I found a somewhat flattering - and more often than not - annoying. I would rather be riding my horse or sitting on the stairs watching him paint through the railings than sitting still in one place for hours on end.
I shared with him that I wanted to go to art school. Sometimes I would draw while he was painting and he would teach me things like, "If you want to draw a straight line, look at where you want to go and not where you are." and "When hands open, the fingers are like petals on a flower."
My art training started at a very early age.
My father painted me while I was sketching - all the while giving me pointers. His wisdom still rings in my ears.
Age 18. Pastel on paper.
Oil painting of me and my horse on opening day of fox hunting season painted by my father. Our stone house is in the background.
As a final early influence, my parents purchased a stone farm house built in 1772 by a colonel in the Revolutionary War. Located in the heart of amish country, it was a wonderful place to grow up and restoring the house to its former glory was a family affair that instilled in me a deep love of history and antiquities that greatly influenced my college of choice and shines through my artwork today.
CHOICES
My father's art education background was helpful in selecting art colleges for me to visit and consider. For a year, my parents and I would travel by train up and down the east coast looking at the best art schools in the US.
We visited Pear, The Rhode Island College of Art, The Boston College of Art, Pennsylvania College of Art, The Maryland Institute of College of Art, Parsons, and Atlanta College of Art and Design. I wasn't taken with any of them.
The art the students were producing in these schools appeared academic and plastic-like to me. Many campuses were beautiful, but they were so large that I felt the students were just a number.
The Schuler School, Baltimore, Md.
The crest on the front door.
The Schuler School studio where I studied one-on-one with master teachers for 4 years and completed a 5th post grad year helping to teach new students and focusing heavily on my personal painting style.
THE SCHULER SCHOOL
After walking a couple of blocks from the train station in downtown Baltimore on a pretty autumn day, my mother, father and I came upon a quaint red brick ivy-covered house on a side street with huge skylights that took half of the front of the building. On the door was a crest that read "Hans Schuler, Sculptor".
We walked inside and my breath stopped.
Now this is an art school!
In the studio there were about ten students painting from a live portrait model. A ten-foot sculpture of Adam and Eve being banned from the garden of Eden overlooked the students as they worked. Beautiful paintings and sculptures rose up the two-story gray walls. The light was amazing.
As I looked over the students' shoulders to view their in-progress portraits, I realized these students could really paint! The works were rich, luminous, luscious, well drawn and beautiful.
The atmosphere was relaxed but you could sense the concentration of the students. The smell was an intoxicating mix of oil paints and turpentine.
This was my school.
Concrete creativity.
BIG CITY - SMALL SCHOOL
You would think relocating to inner-city Baltimore from rural amish country to go to college would be a huge shock!
It wasn't.
I was really excited to go to the Schuler School and I quickly fell madly in love with Baltimore - I still am.
My second floor apartment in downtown Baltimore.
Hans Schulers sculptures beautify a vibrant city.
Located in center city Baltimore about ten blocks from where my brownstone apartment still stands, is a very special college - the Schuler School of Fine Art - my college of choice after visiting so many.
Founded by a married couple, Ann and Hans Schuler, who's reverent respect for the Old Masters in the ever increasingly bizarre modern art world of the 50's and 60's, propelled their dream of opening a college.
MY MASTER TEACHERS
.jpeg)
Portrait of Ann Schuler and Hans Schuler.
ANN SCHULER - OIL PAINTING, DRAWING
Ann Schuler became the assistant to Jacque Maroger, a french restorer at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Maroger, the Technical Director at the Louvre in Paris, was on a mission to save the teachings - and especially the materials- that were used by the old masters. He wrote a book that is much in demand to this day called The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Masters. Because of his scientific research, Maroger medium, a flemish oil painting medium, is widely in use today for traditional oil painters seeking the luscious, luminous long-lasting quality found in the old master works. It is my medium of choice.
Anne was an incredible portrait and figure artist. She also was an excellent restorer of paintings and was often commissioned by the Baltimore Museum of Art to repair their painting collection.
A Schuler statue graces the Mt Vernon Monument.
HANS SCHULER - SCULPTURE, ANATOMY
Hans Schuler Jr was the son of the most prominent and prolific sculptor during the turn of the century. His beautiful sculptures are adored to this day, but in Baltimore it is almost impossible to walk three blocks without seeing one! It is in his historic Schuler studio that I studied.
FRITZ BRIGGS - WATERCOLOR
Elected to the American Watercolor Society and the coveted Salamagundi Club of NYC, his paintings are in many collections. He remains a teacher at the Schuler School.
WILL WILSON - OIL PAINTING, DRAWING
Will graduated from Schuler School a couple of years ahead of me and was Ann's protege. He was a common fixture at Schuler and was a great teacher. His works are carried by top galleries and his shows often sell out prior to opening. You can visit his website and view his amazing works at WillWilsonArt.com.
Formal Art Training
THE ATELIER EXPERIENCE
THE CURRICULUM
I was one of three students in my graduating class and the class schedule did not change my entire 4-year residency:
MONDAY
AM: Cast Drawing
PM: Watercolor
TUESDAY
AM: Still Life Painting/Oils
PM: Portrait Painting/Oils
WEDNESDAY
AM: Cast Drawing
PM: Figure Drawing
THURSDAY
AM: Still Life Painting/Oils
PM: Portrait Painting/Oils
FRIDAY
AM: Anatomy
PM: Sculpture
I must say, the education for the foundation of my craft was second to none.
While other art colleges teach jewelry making, textiles, typography and other arts, they are counter productive if you want to learn to paint.
A painting class at the Schuler School of Fine Art.
Our paints were made by hand by boiling black oil and mixing the oil into powder pigments on marble slabs.
THE MATERIALS
Ann trained her students to make Maroger medium from scratch.
We boiled black oil on a gas stove (very carefully!) and then hand ground the black oil into powder pigments on marble slabs to make our paints by hand - just as the Old Masters before us.
We hand-stretched our canvases using tacks instead of staples and applied layers of rabbit skin glue and white lead for a painting surface. No gesso at this school!
We rolled our own pastels, too. Just about the only thing we did not make were our brushes.
I no longer make my own materials, but it is wonderful to know most intimately what the founding fathers of my craft were taught.
"The Monday Lisa"
Honorable Mention
Artorama International
Juried Self Portrait Competition 2023
18 x 24 • Oil On Canvas
STUDIO IN THE SOUTH
I moved to Alabama 10 years ago. I love the climate and the people. I am really trying to get a southern accent, but I don't think it's sticking.
Bless my heart. ;-)
I continue my art studies by taking occasional classes and workshops. There is always something to be learned and ways to grow.
I hope that we will meet one day and I can hear your story. Feel free to reach out and say, hi! Til then, have a great day, y'all!
Contact
Reach out and tell me about your wedding painting dreams.
I'd love to make them come true!