Self Portrait - San Francisco in 19...... lol" Guess When John Created this and win a free signed print... email today!
"Timeless works of fine art spanning almost 4 decades as seen through the eyes of the master of "Sepia Pen and Ink Wash Drawings - JA Kendall"
John Allan Kendall was born on leap day, February 29th, 1944 in Nashua New Hampshire and grew up in a nearby town called Litchfield. He graduated from Alvirne High School in Hudson, New Hampshire in 1962 and from the University of New Hampshire four years later with a degree in Art Education. He taught 1st – 12th grade art in both Sunapee and New London, New Hampshire for three years before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from San Francisco State College in 1972 with a MA degree in Creative Arts.
Kendall developed the technique he calls “ Sepia Pen & Ink Wash Drawings “ while completing his Master’s project at the houseboat community in Sausalito, California. Sepia brown ink seemed to capture the warmth and feeling of the area. The early experience of living at this houseboat community, for six years, among the old ferryboats and riverboats, certainly helped the artist years later in the field of Marine Art. The artist spent untold hours studying how the water reflected on the mudflats as his A-Frame went up & down with the tides out behind the old Charles Van Damme ferry. Years later, in his Tall Ship series, the artist enjoyed taking on the challenge of capturing the movement of a constantly changing sea. Still photographs taken out on the North Sea at events such as Sail Amsterdam were interpreted by the artist in such detail as to make the viewer of his works think that they might actually be there. Hundreds of hours of both studying the research photos and drawing every little twist & turn of the sea while looking through a large magnifying glass helped to give the artist the realism he wanted.
Since the series of houseboat scenes the artist has also done a series of San Francisco street scenes and New Orleans “French Quarter” street scenes and Jazz Musicians. Photos of the artist working on location in San Francisco have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and a book called “San Francisco” by Carole Chester back when the artist was one of the original street artists there from ‘73’ to ‘77’. Kendall was the featured artist in the Gallery section of the first “French Quarter Catalog” in 1978, and had the honor of having his works published by Motorland Magazine that same year to illustrate an article they did called “New Orleans, Mardi Gras, the French Quarter, oysters and all that Jazz”. Scenes the artist did on location in the late 70s and the early 80s on the Island of Ibiza, Spain (a small island in the Mediterranean where he resided for a number of years) are a real contrast to the drawing he did earlier on location of the Cologne Cathedral, in Germany.
Since 1980 Kendall has specialized in Marine Art and has a series of Tall Ships in print. This series started with research photos the artist took, then worked from, at “Boston Jubilee 350” , before a Trans-Atlantic race, and at “Sail Amsterdam”, six weeks later at the completion of the race. Photos taken again at “Sail Amsterdam” in ‘85’& ‘90’ and at the major ‘Op Sail’ events in Boston, New York, New London CT, Providence RI. & Portland ME since then led to an invitation to capture the USS Constitutions first sail in 116 years. In 1997 Kendall had the honor of being invited to be on board the USS HalyBurton by Lt.Commander Richard Marin, one of the main organizers of ‘Sail 200’. Research photos taken from this escort ship enabled the artist to create the scenes “Old Ironsides – Sail 200” and “USS Constitutions Historic Sail Off Marblehead” Signed prints of these scenes are available at the Constitution Museum in Charlestown MA. An average of 200-250+ hours is spent on each original drawing. Using a magnifying glass enables the artist to capture the detail he wants in both the rigging of the ships and in the sea. The artist has had original work hung at the Mariners Museum in Newport News , Virginia as part of the 8th National Exhibition of Marine Artists called “Painted Ships, Painted Oceans” held in 1986 and has been the “Artist Of The Month” in the Jan./Feb.‘93’ National publication of “Seaways-Ships in Scale” magazine.
Since the artist spent a year of doing commissions of private yachts in Antibes, on the “French Riviera” back in ‘84’ he has lived back in New Hampshire where he continues his Tall Ship series and again teaches art. This much traveled artist has spent over 20 years teaching art to youngsters in Henniker, NH “the Only Henniker on Earth”. Kendall loves to share his enthusiasm for Marine Art with his students and feels that one is never too young to develop an awareness of these beautiful sailing ships and the sea.
Since teaching art in the Sunapee area in the late 60s this artist truly came full circle and now resides back in Georges Mills, overlooking the North end of Lake Sunapee. Since moving back to the Sunapee area in 2000 the artist has had some outstanding exposure in a number of ways. Articles about his work have appeared on two occasions in both the New Hampshire Sunday News and the Argus Champion (which covers the entire Sunapee region.) The author John J. Botta, Jr.wrote a wonderful three page article called “J.A.Kendall: An Extraordinary Talent” which was published in the local Soo Nipi Magazine, and recently Kendall had the honor of being featured on the popular WMUR TV Show “Chronicle”, which was filmed in his Gallery at his home. Permission was granted to show this on his site: www.jakendall.com A few months after the “Chronicle” Show aired he was interviewed on the popular NHPR show “The Front Porch” with John Walters. This show titled “Tall Ships In Detail” was a great half hour trip down memory lane for the artist as it covered over 30 years of the artists life, places he’d lived over the years and people he’d met along the way. He has also realized his dreams of owning his own Gallery and having two wonderful sons to share many of his experiences with. Kendall has enjoyed being in each of his scenes going back to “Looking Down Hyde Street “ done back in San Francisco in 1973, when he featured himself & his brother James on the back of a cable car. He now has the distinct pleasure of adding his sons Christopher and Cody in his works. Artists evolve in many ways during their lifetime. Kendall now offers his works as both “Sepia Pen & Ink Wash Drawings” and as full color versions of his scenes that he has painted in watercolor. These full colored scenes are offered as museum quality limited edition giclee prints. Please stop by his Gallery.
I wholesale to Museums, Galleries & frame shops. The minimum order for wholesale is $100. Scenes wholesale are 50% of the retail price.Shipping fees remain the same.
Beautiful Signed, Hand Painted Prints & Gilcee Prints of Lasting Beauty by JA Kendall, including Tall Ships, San Francisco & New Orleans
