Maine Wildlife Art - Oil Painting, Landscapes, Moose, Mountains, Artisan, John Robichaud

In 1984, when my oldest son Joshua was 8 years old, we would watch PBS together. A wonderfully animated guy by the name of Bill Alexander or "The Happy Painter" had a weekly show that centered around him painting a picture from start to finish. He was very entertaining and we would look forward to watching him each week. Twenty-three years later, I can still feel Joshua sitting under my arm on the couch wiggling with anticipation waiting for the show to begin. It was not long before he was begging me to buy the painting kit offered at the end of the show each week.

We ordered the kit and the day it arrived I started my journey into the world of oil painting. Joshua was thrilled and had to give it a try but just as any 8 year old after two days he was on to a new adventure. However, I kept looking at the kit sitting on the counter and thought if I played around with it a little, he would show interest. If not then the worst thing that would happen would be me spending some special time with my son.

So I gave it a shot, I read the booklets and set up a space in my attic. With the encouragement of my family, I practiced and after some time my paintings actually began to take shape. My mother-in-law viewed some of my paintings and quickly became my biggest fan and that felt fantastic. My family decided to try and sell some of my artwork and when my paintings sold that gave me the incentive to continue.

Since the early days of my art career, I have done hundreds of paintings. While I do not use Bill's style as much anymore, I still have lots of his materials and great memories. I paint because I enjoy it. I was born and raised in the Eastern Maine area, and have always been aware of the beauty of my surroundings.

Throughout my many years of fly-fishing, camping and hiking, I have always known how special the New England landscape truly is. I appreciate many different genres of art, but wildlife art and landscapes are my favorite. I love seeing the outdoors come to life on canvas and the great state of Maine gives me all the inspiration I need. Enjoy my site.. ..............John Robichaud