BERNARD MARKS' OIL AND ACRYLIC PAINTINGS

See oils and acrylics from these states:

Arizona / Colorado / California, Louisiana and Nevada / New Mexico / Texas / Utah / Wyoming

MARTHA MARKS WRITES:

BERNIE PAINTED IN HIS SPARE TIME FOR THREE DECADES while building and running his own advertising and marketing company in Chicago. He dreamed of an art career but truly had no idea that his work would ever be represented by superb galleries like Lennon Fine Art and Waxlander Gallery on Santa Fe’s prestigious Canyon Road. All those early years, he poured his artistic heart out in watercolors for the pure joy of it; examples of those on this website are identified as “Early Bernies.” Wherever we traveled, he was always sketching or painting. Always. I treasure my many photos of him doing his thing around the world.

Around 2007-2008, he switched to oils and acrylics. Why? Well, Lennon Fine Art was changing its focus to Russian art, leaving Bernie and other Southwestern artists out in the cold. Other galleries would have welcomed him as a painter in oils and acrylics, but since watercolors didn’t sell as well, their owners or managers weren’t looking for those. The venerable Waxlander Gallery encouraged Bernie’s transition by snapping up his first acrylics and oils. He was excited and invigorated by the special textures and tonal effects that he now could introduce into his work.

One thing is safe to say: not a soul ever complained of Bernie’s turn toward oil and acrylic paintings. Santa Fe’s art community responded well, as did the editors of International Artist magazine, which named him a runner-up in a worldwide competiton and later published many of his pieces and “step-by-step” articles that he wrote and illustrated with his works in progress.

Why was the response so great? I think it was because — as you can see from “Flowering Ocotillo,” “Rio Grande Medley,” “Autumn on the Plaza” and dozens of other pieces on this site — Bernie’s oils and acrylics are stunningly beautiful. They’re newer, too, so more original pieces are still available. And the fact that he painted them in his studio means they’re larger than the earlier plein air watercolors, so prints made from them are more detailed and impactful, too.

Bernie kept painting up to a few weeks before his death. Many of the works shown on this website have never been exhibited or offered for sale anywhere else.

Please read these Important Notes about the prints we sell and the way Bernie’s paintings look to you on this website.

See oils and acrylics from these states:

Arizona / Colorado / California, Louisiana and Nevada / New Mexico / Texas / Utah / Wyoming