The Art and the Artist

Retired from a career in higher education, Bob Blackmon lives and paints in Troy, New York. He is primarily a still life artist whose works are characterized by realism, rich colors, sharp contrasts of light and dark, and dark backgrounds. He strives to find and reveal beauty in life’s simple things. His still lifes are of the Baroque style and are rather unique.

He has been painting since 1973 having studied under master artists Bob Tompkins (Madison, Mississippi) and Bill Zaner (Boerne, Texas). Blackmon’s still life style is influenced by the Baroque-style paintings of Tompkins, whose work is greatly influenced by that of the French artist, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin.

Prior to his retirement in 2005 Blackmon held academic administrative positions at the University of Arkansas, the State University of New York, and Louisiana State University (where he received his PhD many years ago) and was a Scholar in Residence at the Pakistan Forest Institute in Peshawar, Pakistan. His career also included being a research scientist with the USDA Forest Service. Since their retirement Bob and his wife, Mary Beth, have become serious students of Irish history and culture and have made several trips to the Republic of Ireland.

Bob Blackmon is a member of the Colonie Art League, the Arts Center of the Capital Region, the Albany Artists Group, the DeSoto Arts Council (in Louisiana, the state of his birth) and is one of three founding directors of the East Bank Art Alliance. He is one of the artists in the Ardmore Gallery, in the Republic of Ireland, and was recently invited to join the artists of the Albany Center Gallery in Albany, New York. Blackmon is also one of the artists in the Artisan Gallery at Camelot in Bennington, Vermont.

Blackmon has exhibited his work at juried and non-juried shows at Louisiana State University, in Leland, Mississippi and Schenectady, Albany, Saratoga Springs, Colonie, Averill Park, East Greenbush, and Troy, New York. This has included the Sand Lake Center for the Arts, The Arts Center of the Capital Region, The Villagers Stockade Show, Art in the Garden Show, the Pruyn House Show, the Art de Cure Gallery, Colonie Art League shows, solo shows at the East Greenbush Library, and several others.

The Ireland Connection

“The Irish Collection” is a separate gallery of paintings inspired by Irish subjects. It follows Gallery 3.

Blackmon currently has works on exhibit at the Ardmore Gallery and in the permanent collections of four Bed and Breakfasts in the Republic of Ireland: Bracken B & B, Glendalough, County Wicklow; Newtown Farm B & B, Ardmore, County Waterford; Four Winds Lodge and Gallery, Galway, County Galway; and  Windermere House, Castlebar, County Mayo. [A sad note: A limited edition print of “Candle Light” was stolen from the Bracken B & B in 2011. Anyone having information related to the possible whereabouts of this work is encouraged to contact the artist or the innkeepers.]

International Sales

Recently several paintings sold from Ardmore Gallery in Ireland and a sale was made directly to a collector in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. With these sales Blackmon paintings are now in private collections in Hong Kong, Tanzania, and Lithuania, as well as the Republic of Ireland and the United States.

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All Blackmon paintings are original oils on canvas. Paintings in private collections are, of course, no longer available; most of the others are for sale. All works are framed or on gallery wrapped canvas, wired, and ready for hanging. To reach the artist, use the Contact page, following Gallery 4.

The artist reserves the right to reproduce his works and market museum-quality prints. Reproductions of Blackmon’s paintings are made by Visual Winds Studio of Schenectady, New York. These are available as signed and numbered limited edition, museum-quality prints.

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Disclaimer about photo quality: The very high quality images of paintings on this site were shot by professionals at Visual Winds Studio. Other photos of lesser quality were shot by the painter, and many will be replaced with better images as soon as the paint is dry and available for professional photography.

Site Dedication

This site is dedicated to the loving memory of the magnificent and wonderful Samuel Windermere Blackmon (1991-2006), an English Cocker, who assisted and inspired the artist by sleeping in the studio while many of these works were created.  Sam appears in Gallery 4 in several additional photographs and in an outstanding portrait by watercolorist Joe Lackie of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The portrait of Sam also appears in Gallery 1 of Joe Lackie’s website.

The Artist  and Sam

Special Tribute

The artist pays special tribute to his sister, Ima Jean Blackmon Cash (1929-1995), who was a gifted painter, and to his mother, Myrtie Wiggins Blackmon (1907-1993), who, inspired by her daughter and perhaps her son, created one painting in her lifetime. Two of his sister’s paintings are in Gallery 4. Also in Gallery 4 is a painting of the artist’s sister, done by Logansport, Louisiana artist Judy Hall in 1991. That image also appears below.  Likewise, the artist’s dear aunt, Gracie Smith (1921-2011)  created one painting which also appears in Gallery 4.

Ima Jean Blackmon Cash

by

Judy Hall

Logansport, Louisiana

Now scroll back to the top and click on the various galleries and other pages and enjoy the “beauty of life’s simple things.”