Robert Coppen
Sauquoit, NY - United States
Robert Coppen - Fine Artist
Member Since: 11/28/2010
Self-taught artist. Learned mostly from doing and from looking at other artists' paintings (or reproductions of, in books and magazines). Favorite artists are the landscape painters John Constable, Winslow Homer, Charles Burchfield and Rockwell Kent. Live in upstate NY. Paint mostly landscapes, most of which are upstate NY scenes. Sometimes I paint animals. Work in various mediums, primarily pastels, acrylics and watercolors. Planning on trying encaustics soon, because it's just about the oldest of all the still-existing artists' mediums out there and because I'm curious about it. The medium isn't really the message for me, though, the land is. And nature. And the environment. You paint what you love, and I love the natural world around me, and want it to remain beautiful and clean and able to support both animals and people for many years to come (this means, of course, that I don't like hydrofracking or the Keystone XL pipeline or war). For me art is partly about technique but is mostly about expressing what I feel about nature, so my techniques vary (mostly I just make them up as I go along, with each new painting posing a new set of problems to be solved). And I like trying different stuff. One of the most interesting things about painting for me can be summed up with the question, 'I wonder what will happen if I do this?' The bottom line for me, though, isn't really my techniques or media, it's the place, the land. What I hope people might say when they look at one of my paintings isn't 'Wow! Look at that brushwork!' or 'Look at that color!!' Instead, it's 'What a cool place! I'd like to take a walk there (or paddle a canoe there) someday.'
Thank you and I hope you enjoy looking at my work.
