Matthew Schulz |
About my grandfather, John B. Farrington 1925-2008 "My Grandfather has always had a huge impact on my life. From the time I was a little kid, when I would long to be old enough to go to Maine with him. And today when I drag him to come with me places and do things that he "doesn't have the ambition for" which translates to 'I'll go, if you drive.' So it should be of no surprise that I use him as subject matter in my painting's. I use him because he has a certain gritty appeal that all great characters have. It's the weathered skin, the crisscrossed patterns on his neck and the old beat up hands that have history and that is what he gives to a painting, history.
He was there for all my Outdoor first's. The first duck I shot down on the Barnstable Salt Marshes or the first time I pulled in a keeper striper off one of the local jetties and became so excited that I fell into the surf, but I kept reeling and landed the fish and myself. He was also with me this past season when I finally shot an eight pointer, my first deer. This deer has a short story. For those who have ever hunted, one(me) is not always paying close attention as one should to the twists and turns and directional changes that are made in ones travels. This became abundantly clear when I began to explain where I was to my grandfather when it took him 35 minutes and two signal shots to reach me. But it was all worth it to see his admiration for my deer, which quickly wore away when he realized that I had left my flashlight in the truck too."
Recent Awards and Shows 2008 29th Annual Mystic International: August Anthem 2008 Awarded the Arthur T. Hill Memmorial Award for Landscape, Salmagundi Club 2008 Annual Members Show, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY 2007 In Fine Feather, Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA. 2007 Birds in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum, Wasau WI 2007 Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, When We Were Younger, Cotuit Center for the Arts. 2006 78th Annual Grand National Exhibition, American Artist's Professional League at the Salmagundi Club, New York. Painting shown: "Marsh Rhythm". 2006 Massachusetts Waterfowl Stamp Competition, Winner: "Truro Goldeneye". 2006 Finalist in the Artist's Magazine 23rd Annual Art Competition, Landscape: "Marsh Rhythm". 2006 Cape Cod Museum of Art, Annual Arts Auction. 2006-2005 2006 Cahoon Museuem Annual "Brush Off". 2006-2004 2005 77th Annual Grand National Exhibition, American Artists Professional League at the Salmagundi Club, New York. 2005 Massachusetts Waterfowl Stamp Competition, 3rd Place, "Tin-winged Plover". 2004 Copley Society of art, Boston. Fall Members Show. "View from Water Street landing."; "Roxbury Gap I"; "Roxbury Gap II". 2004 First Place, East Carolina Wildlife Art Show, Washington , NC. "Rooster's March" 2003 National Aviary Wildlife Art Show, Pittsburgh, PA. 2003 First Place, Wings and Water Festival, Stone Harbor , NJ. "Tails of Spring" Press 2008 CApe Cod Life, Rob Conery, Painting the Cape 2007 Cape Cod Times, Life Styles,Rob Conery, "The Stamp of Approval" 2007 American Art Collector Magazine,April Issue, Joshua Rose, Oil Painters of America Editorial. 2006 Cape Cod Times, Molly Benjamin 2006 The Cape Cod Voice,October, Jeffrey Davidson 2005 Cape Cod Life: Arts Edition,Summer/Fall, Andrew Cunningham 2004 The Barnstable Patriot, Bradley Lynch, "The Natural" |