Current Residence- 34 So. Main Street, Sunderland , Ma. 01375

Education-

Secondary School- Westminster School, Simsbury Ct.-1973

B.A.- Wesleyan University, Middletown, Ct- 1977

M.S.-University of Massachusetts, School of Natural Resources, Amherst, Ma.- 2001

Art Education- 1978- Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Lyme, Ct.

1979-1980 art classes at Cornell University and Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y.

I have painted almost exclusively in oils since I began pursuing excellence in art as a life goal in 1978. I have painted a handful of portraits for special occasions, otherwise my focus is on the landscape. When selecting a subject for a painting I try to find an unusual composition that conveys some sense of motion. Clouds. Water. Rocks that erode or fold or fault. Rocks that have fallen. Trees that explode with growth, twist, fall and decay. I see landscapes that are typically described as timeless and enduring as being snapshots. Here today and gone in an epoch. Currently I am trying to convey a sense of the physical structure of the landscape, both grand and quantum, in my compositions.

I enjoy the challenge of water. It's semi-tranparent. It reflects, refracts and distorts. Things float on it, sink in it, grow in it and stick through it. One world above, one below, and one on the surface.

My interest in the landscape led to studying geology and other natural sciences, including biology and forestry at UMass. I am fortunate to have been befriended and supported as an artist and illustrator by various faculty at UMass and Amherst College.

The artistic accomplishment of which I am most proud is the completion on the large Triassic landscape on permanent display at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Ct. It is the product of careful research and consultation with several leading scientists in the fields of Paleontology, Paleobotany, Geology, and Paleoecology. I recently completed a 'companion' diorama painting of the Connecticut Valley region as it may have appeared in the early Jurassic for the Amherst College Museum of Natural History.

Though my landscapes typically lack a human element I enjoy working with people. I have painted numerous commissions. I get great satisfaction from illustration, from visualizing and making real another person's ideas.

I welcome serious inquiries regarding commissions and illustrations. Feel free to contact me at sillin@comcast.net