About Me

My photo
Paramus, New Jersey, United States
No, this in not a blog about gardening in any way, but a journal of my journey to become a professional landscape painting artist. For years, I’ve given my paintings as wedding gifts without thinking of profiting in some way from it. I worked for 18 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC as a computer programmer. I have been a painter since 1990, coincidentally, when I started working at the Met. I watched Bob Ross do his thing on Channel 13 in New York and decided I could do this, too. I have no formal training. I incorporate Bob's wet-on-wet technique for sky and water. My subject matter is covered bridges, lighthouses, fishing village scenes, barns, etc. Maine, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Nova Scotia and Spain are some of the places I have painted. My style is detailed and sometimes people think a photo of the painting is an actual photo of the scene. I hope to continue and grow in this medium. I also like to cook & dance. I am also a committed Christian. I am taking commissions - painting your landscapes style photos or your vacation home. Prices on request. contact me - Jackmck@juno.com my website is www.artofjackmckenzie.com

Friday, November 30, 2012

Paramus Library show over & a secret to driving traffic to your blog

Welll, its the end of November and my little show at the Paramus Library is over. I got some good comments, but no sales. As far as I know, I have to future library shows. I'm not sure if I want to continue them, but we will see,

In a previous post, I posted a Bob Ross for President poster I found somewhere on the 'net. That post has gotten the most hits of anything else I've put on here, 190! Thats one of the secrets of getting a lot of traffic to your blog: post something alot of people are looking for. Find some artist you like or a recipe that appeals to you and post it. It'll get you traffic you are seeking. Some of you veteran bloggers know this already, but for any newbies out there, try it! The 'net has become sort of like the old card catalogues in the library: you start looking for one thing and end up finding something ompletely unexpected. 

quote: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
― Pablo Picasso
“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Celebrating Monet's birthday - Nov 14th

Claude Monet's is one of my favorite painter and, since its his birthday today,  I just had to do a post on him.. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (where I worked for 18 years) has a large collection of his work and I spent many a lunch hour there (when I wasn't in the Chinese and Japanese galleries. Here is the link to the Met's bio of him Monet . Given that he's known for the bright colors of his paintings, one of my favorites is a winter scene called "Ice Floes".

Monday, November 12, 2012

Guest artist - Chen Chun Hao - Traditional Chinese Landscape using nails

One of my favorite styles of painting in the traditional Chinese landscape painting - the large mountainous landscape with small figures almost lost in it. When I worked at the Met, I spent a lot of time in the Chinese art galleries. On FB, the Artify It page posted pictures of the work of Chen Cun Hao who "paints" these traditial Chinese paintings using mosquito nails, thousands of them! Very impressive. I'm always excited to see artists doing things in new ways! Check out the link and the pictures provided

Chen Chun Hao

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Guest artist - Carl Warner. Makes scenes with sweets, cheese & chocolate

A friend posted this artical from the London Daily Mail on-line on FB and I've been looking for a delcious artist to post and Carl Warner qualifies! He uses sweets, cheese, chocolate and other food to create wonderful scenes from all over. Beautiful! This combine my artist/foodie inclinations to a T! Heres the link
Carl Warner

and here's a sample. Since I love painting sea village scenes, this one is a favorite - And one ingredient is fish!
Fishscape: This coastal view is made out of of fish, along with lettuce leaves and a small boats transporting peas .

Yellow Oasis: Carl Warner's artwork is based around food photography - this one uses cheese for pyramids, pasta for palm trees as well as lemons and peppers

Yellow Oasis: Carl Warner's artwork is based around food photography - this one uses cheese for pyramids, pasta for palm trees as well as lemons and peppers

For those of you seeing this in England, Mr Warner is exhibiting some of his work at Westfield - Stratford City, London until November 11.
He will be giving talks from 1-5pm between Friday and Sunday.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Library Show for November - Paramus Libray

Well as I said before, back to the beginning. My first library show was at Paramus Library and here we go again.
This was delayed for almost a week because of power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy, but my Paramus Library show will be up and running by this afternoon. Here's the library's website Paramus Library to check for operating hour. Come and check it out and, if you see anything you like, buy one for 200 dollars. If thats too much, check back here to my merchandising section and buy a mug, bag,  postcards or prints. Hope you enjoy it. Check out the pictures.