Artist Bio

Artist's Biography

I grew up near Portland, Oregon, received a Bachelor's degree in physics from Portland State University, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado. For thirty years I taught physics, astronomy and the occasional beginning computer-programming course at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. I retired in 2006. During my physics career I had articles published in Sky & Telescope Magazine (two), the Journal of the Astro Space Stamp Society, the Proceedings of the Colonial Shore Bird Society, the Journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Journal of Physics, to name a few.

I bought canvases and oil painting gear when I was in college and created several truly horrible oil paintings; thankfully none have survived. In the meantime every four to six years I created a few more very mundane paintings, only a few of which survive. A year after I retired from teaching I figured out some of what I was doing wrong with my painting and started producing classical realism paintings. I have no formal training in art, but I have been fortunate enough to have visited a number of the great art museums of the world and seen examples of the finest paintings.

My wife and I have traveled extensively in the past twenty-five years, mostly to somewhat less developed countries with exotic sights and people, and I have documented our adventures with photographs. (With a little brushing up I can say “hello” in ten languages, including English, and “Where is the toilet?” in eight.) I paint mostly from my travel photographs, picking the subject matter because it offers something I think I will enjoy painting.

Recently, April 2012, my paintings have been part of a four- person show at the Cooperstown Art Associaion, Cooperstown, New York.

I have had a number of my paintings accepted into juried shows in Oneonta and Cooperstown, New York, winning the Grand Prize and the Viewers' Choice (two separate paintings) at the 2011 76^th Annual National Juried Exhibition at the Cooperstown Art Association, a Jurist Citation at the 2009 74^th Annual National Juried Exhibition at the Cooperstown Art Association, and the Grand Prize at 2009 Mansion Regional Juried Art Show at the Art Council of Oneonta.

My work has been exhibited continuously since 2009 at the Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts Gallery in Binghamton, New York, where I also had my first solo exhibition March 2010. My paintings also have been exhibited at the Viviana Hansen Gallery in Delhi, New York.

Charles Hartley
April 2012