Square One

Robert Weiss (b. 1952) is an American painter with over 45 years' experience as a professional artist in the commercial and fine art fields. As a wee sprout his artistic inclinations were encouraged by a family that included painters, musicians, and writers. From 1973 to 1978 he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, studying illustration, printmaking, and graphic design. His post-Pratt years included stints in NYC as an advertising art director, graphic designer, and freelance studio artist. During this period, he studied oil painting and the Reilly Method of Classical Realism at the Reilly League of Artists in White Plains, NY. In 1985 he was smitten by the old whalers’ art of scrimshaw and became internationally known as one of the foremost scrimshaw artists in the world, receiving numerous awards for his work. As time passed though, the desire to paint full-time grew ever stronger. Moving to Hawaii in 2006 motivated Bob to paint outdoors more frequently, and he soon took the plunge to become a full-time painter. Bob now divides his time between painting outdoors around the island and working in his studio in the little town of Honomu on the Big Island of Hawai'i.