About Me

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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

Sunday, June 26, 2016

New painting: Old Man and Duck

One of my sources for pictures to paint is the Vinyard Colors FB page.  Yann has a commercial paper route. He picks up various newspapers from a boat at 3:30 am and delivers them to various retail establishments across Martha's Vineyard. Along the way he takes beautiful pictures of Martha's Vineyard and posts them. He encourages artists to paint them and email them to him and he posts them on the site. I've done 5 of them.
The 1st weekend in June, my friends and I went on our annual trip to bike the island , staying at the hostel. I wanted to meet Yann. First invitd he and his wife to Saturday dinner (I do the cooking on the trip) and he could not. I suggested riding with him and he passes by the hostel at 6 AM on his way to Edgartown. So we rode and got along well and I got to see a lot of back areas. It was foggy and misty so and got a few shots. He doesn't post people pictures, so he gave this shot of an old man feeding a duck. I took it as a challenge piece, since I've never done people up this close or ducks. It turned out pretty good.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Painting sold: Rose Christmas Cove House

The Rich and Dale Rose are a couple from my church. I grew up with Dale and her sister Denise. Rich's family hs this house in Christmas Cove and they posted a picture of a set table in front of the house and I ended up painting it for them, kind of a back door commission. They came by today on their way up from Virginia to that house to pick up the painting. The painting over his right shoulder is one I did from  picture his daughter took of a fishing dock in Christmas Cove