Artist Statement My paintings spring from a lifelong fascination with the outdoors. This fascination, present even in my earliest memories, has greatly influenced my personal, academic and professional pursuits, and most significantly, my artwork. The moods, mystery, and atmosphere along with inherent design of nature intrigue me, and I seek to unveil and express those qualities in my paintings, trying to document a specific place and time. It is self-evident that the single family farms and working harbors is threatened and rapidly vanishing. Still, there is a physical, emotional, and spiritual that remains evident. I choose to capture the inspiring ofwhat still remains, rather than what has been lost. Contemporary Realism, my paintings are characterized by the thoughtful process of composition using natures and man made elements to evoke a true sense of place. They are subtle in color and strong in mood. My paintings are all oils on linen in sizes from 8 x 10 through 40 x 60. Small sizes being produced in Plein Air, and larger ones in the studio from location studies. Bio Thomas Adkins, a Southbury, Connecticut, and Maine resident, is a graduate of Paier College of Art of New Haven. After graduate classes at the School of Visual Arts of New York he has worked as art director and creative director for some of Connecticut’s and New York’s most prestigious advertising agencies. Adkins has won numerous awards for his designs, illustrations and paintings. His work has been purchased by GE, IBM, Kraft, Minolta, Hilton Hotels, Timex, Wendy’s and other major corporations. Twice exhibiting in the Mystic International Marine Exhibition, Thomas has had numerous one-man shows and group shows. His work is carried by prestigious galleries, such as Gregory James Gallery, Bayview Gallery and PH Miller Galleries and throughout New England. Thomas Adkins is a seasoned veteran of plein air painting. Most works begin with on location studies 16” x 20” or smaller. Adkins then composes larger works in his studio, compiling sketches, additional studies and from memory. His most recent works have been in completed throughout New England. Focusing on areas in Connecticut and along Down East coast of Maine. Adkins’ concept of landscape painting is to preserve his emotional reaction to the moods, feelings and perceptions of nature and sharing them with others. “Every good landscape painting should have a sense of what the artist is feeling to a particular location. Every day and every hour there is a different affect nature has on our senses.” As a contemporary painter of the New England landscape, Adkins is inspired by frequent visits to the neighboring farms, coast villages, and pastures of Connecticut and Maine. His style and technique have developed from early influences by impressionistic painters of light on nature, such as Monet, Pissaro and Willard Metcalf, and contemporary painter Peter Poskas. Adkins has the rare ability to capture the subtle nuances that make up the ever-changing beauty of light on the New England landscape in a realistic, contemporary way. Awards & Showings Mystic International Marine Art Exhibition-2002-2011 American Professional Artist League 2010-2011 Butler Museum Of American Art 2008 New Britain Museum Of Fine Art 2008, 2009 Cavalier Galleries - 2006 -2009 P.H. Miller Gallery One Man Show -2006 Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society Group Show 2005–2010 Manchester VT Fine Art - 2007, 2008 P.H. Miller Gallery Group Show -2005 - 2007 Old Lyme Association 2005-2006 (Connecticut Plein Air Annual Show) Beaux Arts Gallery One Man Show 2003-2004 Finalist Artist Magazine Landscape Award 2004 Beaux Arts Gallery One Man Show 2002-2003 22nd Mystic International Marine Art Exhibition-2002 Beaux Arts Gallery One Man Show 2000 Beaux Arts Gallery Group Shows 1993-2003 Litchfield PS Gallery 1994-2006 Litchfield PS Gallery One Man Show-1999 Beaux Arts Gallery One Man Show 1998 Wisdom House Gallery One Man Show 1997 New Britain Museum of American Art Show 1997 Goodnews Gallery One man Show 1996 Connecticut State Legislator Group Show 1995 Kent Art Association Presidents Show 1990 New Haven Paint & Clay 1990 Represented Aetna Insurance Private Collection Hilton Hotels Private Collection Timex Corporation Webster Bank CL Adams Company Private collection Great Britain Private collections throughout United States
Affiliations: Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society Old Lyme Art Association Oil Painters Of America The Salmagundi Club, NY An Interview It might be the quality of refracted late afternoon light hazing the treetops that will make you pause and mentally shiver-because there, in the quality of that light, Mr. Adkins has done the most elusive thing of all, he has painted the very moment when a particular aspect of the landscape made realize your bare hands were cold. You look at his painting, unconsciously curl your hands into protective fists and look down at what just happened in mild disbelief. That reaction measures how accomplished Mr. Adkins is when it comes to capturing the sense of mood and atmosphere that distinguishes the landscapes he chooses to paint, which are often farms that, not coincidentally, pose in winter settings. October through March is his favorite time to paint and he acknowledges, "I do prefer the winter." "It's like the skeleton of the landscape," he says of scenes that, unlike at other times of the year, let a painter get inside and see what's really going on. The geometry of what has been rendered by nature and man is less masked than ever and the light, as unsaturated and weak as it can be, moves unfettered, finding its way through cracks and crevices like smoke, promising warmth or the illusion of it. Moreover, Mr. Adkins, a lover of nature and a keen observer of the world around him, praises winter for the opportunities it offers for understanding and parsing colors. And snow is just one example. "You're not painting white," he says. "You're painting every other color that's in that snow." Whether he is painting the farms he favors or the marine images that are a growing part of his oeuvre, Mr. Adkins wants viewers to step into the scene and be there. He says of his role, "I feel like a conduit of what I see." His success comes from a confluence of elements that are personal and familial, professional and practical. A graduate of the Paier College of Art of New Haven, he took graduate classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York and subsequently worked as art director and creative director for advertising agencies in New York and Connecticut. An award-winning designer and illustrator who still maintains a graphic design firm, his work has been used by Black & Decker, Fuji, General Electric, Kraft, Minolta, Wendy's and other corporations. That's the practical side; knowing the scope of the mission and perceiving how to fulfill it. On a personal and familial level, the subjects Mr. Adkins embraces have always been a part of his life and his family's heritage. He was born in Texas, grew up in Waterbury and Terryville, Conn., and had family in Litchfield and Torrington. Winding up on the edge of Litchfield County in Southbury was a natural. His family, meanwhile, was originally from Maine and its farm burned down in the early 1900s. As a boy he would vacation with his family in Maine and, much later, on a trip with his wife the artist happened upon Round Pond, near Damariscotta. He wound up buying land very near to property owned by an uncle, though he didn't know it at the time, and established a base there for his marine work. When he says in reference to farms, "You have to have a love for what you paint to really put any emotion into the pieces," Mr. Adkins is highlighting the stream of long-established emotions that give shape and resonance to his paintings. That may be the place from which they derive their uncanny ability to depict how a landscape feels, as much as what it looks like, but it doesn't hurt that the artists brings to each canvas not only his life experience and the soul of a naturalist but also a masterful technical command of his chosen pursuit. There is a strong sense of design in his work and he selects landscapes with a lot of diagonals that help move a viewer's eye around each canvas, which is built on an overall concept of interlocking circles of visual interest. Fortified with a cup of coffee, he often heads out for a drive in his truck, around sunrise or two hours before dusk. "What I'm looking for, it's very elusive," he says, "a play of light on forms." When he finds it, Mr. Adkins will do an oil sketch on site, "like a frozen moment in time." If it's particularly cold, he might paint in his truck. His smaller works are done entirely on location and might take five to six hours in all. The larger pieces evolve from the oil sketches done en plein air and begin with an underlying drawing in pencil. Laid over that is a coat of burnt sienna, which fixes the drawing and provides a foundation for the colors to come. Done on Belgian linen that Mr. Adkins stretches himself, the larger paintings take 30 to 40 hours to complete, a cycle that places his annual output at roughly 30 works. Once finished, the large works are left to dry for about a week and then get a coat of varnish, which really brings out the colors. The smaller oil studies are priced at roughly $1,200, while the larger pieces can command $8,000 to $12,000. Mr. Adkins is currently represented by the P.H. Miller Gallery in Woodbury, Conn., the Gregory James Gallery in New Milford , Mystic Maritime Gallery and the Bayview Gallery in Camden and Brunswick, Me. He was also recently invited to show in the prestigious 32tnd Annual International Marine Art Exhibition at The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport and is a member of the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society and the Association of Oil Painters of America. As much as the artist seems comfortable with the practical and business aspects of his career, there's no doubt that he's most devoted to the act of painting and what results. "I have to do this. I almost don't have a choice," he said, noting that as far back as second grade he won a prize for a portrait of his father. "If I don't paint for a few weeks I am miserable." And, of course, his subject matter, when married to his life experience, is what allows him to turn frozen moments in time into visual poetry with a lasting impact. "The moods, mystery and atmosphere, along with [the] inherent design, of nature intrigue me, and I seek to unveil and express those qualities in my paintings, trying to document a specific place and time," he says in his artist's statement. "It is self-evident that the single family farms and working harbors are threatened and rapidly vanishing. Still, there is a physical, emotional and spiritual part that remains evident. I choose to capture the inspiring aspect of what still remains, rather than what has been lost." For more information on the artist who cites as influences Monet, Pissaro, the Connecticut Impressionist Willard Metcalf, see his Web site, www.thomasadkinsfineart.com. |
