This is an original unframed watercolor By Dennis Simpson. Dennis won BEST OF SHOW at the Mendocino Art Center Paint Out in 2015. The artist has taken awards at this venue since its inception.

Dennis Simpson…. The artist, in an interview in outdoorpainter.com, says of himself… I tend to be a storyteller. I prefer to create a story with a brush rather than a pen. If the painting depicts a convincing narrative, I feel I have succeeded.

Dennis was born in Albany, California in 1946. He began painting at the age of eight and has enjoyed painting and sketching throughout his life. During his college years, he enjoyed painting and studying with an accomplished painter, Vernon Nye, AWS, establishing a lifetime mentorship and friendship. Dennis enjoys being spontaneous, as opposed to being deliberate, in the loose application of paints.

After graduating from California State University, Hayward, with a degree in Fine Arts, Dennis served in the Army as an illustrator. He also was a member of the 5th Army Pistol Team and a Helicopter medic from 1970 to 1972. He chose Special Education teaching and art instructing as his professional career until retirement in 2004.

Artists such as Homer, Sargent, Degas, Breton, and Nye have been most influential in Simpson’s work. A painterly approach appeals to Simpson, capturing his impressions and personal feelings generated by the subject at hand. By allowing the paint to settle in ways one cannot anticipate, he likes to bring even more integrity to his work. Simpson admits, there are certain things in painting, as in life, that just cannot be predicted. By honoring the past in his work, Simpson believes a little bit of that past can be made fresh and your own.