River Walker

Keene Valley NY in the Adks is a town where artists have painted since the 1800's, most notably Winslow Homer. Pat Kirmer is a contemporary artist still painting into his 80's. He is a  very tall gentle- man who is often seen walking with his wide brim hat to and from his painting sojourns on Johns Brook. He does wild linear abstractions based on the patterns and colors he observes in the water as it cascades over the rocks. He was a student of Diebenkorn's who told him to "never underestimate the element of suprise " in a painting. I placed Mr. Kirmer in one of his own drawings. It was great fun to try to reproduce "Kirmer-like" marks on the painting.Every great painter has his own "handwriting" and Kirmer definately has his.