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

Monday, August 26, 2013

Its nice to know I have a recognizable style.



As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my family and I  and many of my friends have been going to the Christian family camp in the Adirondacks called Camp-of-the-Woods for many years. I have done a number of paintings of Camp. Three of them are hanging in the stairway to the 3rd floor of the main lodge called Purdy Center.

One family, the Zubers, have been going there many years, too. One daughter, Janet, who is my age, met her husband there while on staff. They have not been there for many years, so they all decided to go last week. Janet was walking up the stairs, saw the paintings and said to her mother that they looked like my style of painting. Closer inspection revealed my signature on them. They took pictures of the paintings.


When I walked into church this Sunday, the mother, Ellie, handed me a envelope containing the pictures, saying they were thrilled to see my work in display. Nice to know I have a recognizable style! 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

First Baptist Summer Art Gallery - Roly Medois' entry

Another artist in the congregation added his work to our third exhibition - Roly Medois. He is one of the song  worship leaders. As usual I put out a "press release" that was posted on the church's FB & Twitter pages



First Baptist Hackensack Summer Art Gallery
Press Release – 8/18/13
Subject –  Third exhibition, part 2
From – The Curator
For immediate release

The Curator is pleased to announce a new exhibit on the FBHSAG wall for the 3rd exhibition in addition to  Poetry by Donna Prendergast, Carol Tripp – Sew & Sew
And The Art of Beverly Orwig

The Art Works by Roly
Roly Medois is one of our song worship leaders and his art work comes in a number of mediums – drawing, acrylic, photography and 3-d animation on a laptop. A favorite is his acrylic of the outside  front of the church surrounded by musical symbols. The surrounding streets are a piano key board and a stringed guitar neck.  The 3-d animation show a vehicle chassis and the drawing is a self portrait

Thursday, August 15, 2013

My entry in See.me Art Takes Paris contest - need votes!

There's an art site called see.me and they have an Art Takes Paris contest which I have entered. I have to Share my entry with friends, family and fans to gain 19 more votes before This Monday August 19th 11:59pm EST and they will post my  entry on their Facebook page, followed by over 300,000 people! So check it out!
Art takes Paris

Monday, August 12, 2013

First Baptist Hackensack Summer Art Gallery - 3rd exhibition

This is the 3rd exhibition in my church's (First Baptist Hackensack) Summer Art Gallery series.I am the Curator. It's been interesting getting people to come out of their artistic shell sometimes to get them to publicly display their talents. As usual, I had "published" a press release on the church's FB  and Twitter page & also pictures.
One exhibitor we could not post picture of their work was Donna Prendergast's poetry. She is intending to publish them in an on-line book, so doing so here would have thwarted that. The title of Carol Tripp's exhibit of sewing pictures ("Sew and Sew") was a mutual idea, as long as I did not put "Old" in front of it. The post-exhibition gallery in the church is now called the Radiator Gallery. This is where examples of past exhibitions are shown.
I also spoke the Hackensack Christian School principal about extending our time using the board before the school's art class took it back and she was fine with it. So we will go into September, if there is any interest in by more exhibitors.



First Baptist Hackensack Summer Art Gallery
Press Release – 8/11/13
Subject –  Third exhibition
From – The Curator
For immediate release

The Curator is pleased to announce 3 new exhibitions on the FBHSAG wall

The Poetry of Donna Prendergast
Donna is a member of  FBH Missions Committee. We have a selection of her poetry on our wall. Two of her poems: Servant and Send Me On, were used in our Missionary Conference a few years ago. Send Me On was a song with music by Rosalee Gleman. She will be publishing a book of her poems in the near future


Carol Tripp – Sew & Sew
She is a long time member of FBH, part of the Hospitality Team the works the kitchen during church functions  and an accomplished sower. We have pictures of her work showing her sewing prowess with wedding dresses and a bride’s head dress and some children’s costumes.


The Art of Beverly Orwig
Beverly is a long time member of FBH and helps run the Bereans. Her daughter Beverly is a missionary to France along with her husband John Mitchell. We have here a selection of her paintings in various styles and a needlepoint of Mont St.Michel in France

As usual, we have examples of previous exhibitions sitting on the heat registers in the church sanctuary. This will be known as the Radiator Gallery.

We have a few more weeks to put examples of your handiwork up. Please contact me to do so.