Tony Conner Artists Blog

A versatile artist and architectural illustrator, Tony's watercolor works are recognized for their depiction of the quality of light and expressive use of color. His watercolor paintings exhibit a range of representational expression, but common to all is a concern for the light and its effects on form, color and texture. Many of his works are completely focused on the quality of light itself and are constructed by transforming individual elements into broad shapes of color and value. Contrasts of color, temperature, texture, and transparency/opacity, are important elements in all of his paintings and illustrations. The result is dramatic work in a unique and expressive style. Tony has always been an artist, spending a good deal of time drawing and painting even as a youngster. Not surprisingly, most of his work from this time were of landscapes and seascapes, subjects that continue to be among his most favorite, and reflect his interest in both the natural and built worlds as well as his attraction to the quality of light. Expressing the rural landscape of Vermont and New England has been the focus of most of his professional watercolor work. The subject matter of his more recent work is a diverse mixture which includes both the rural landscape as well as that of his new-old favorite, the seascape. The seascape as a subject captured Tony's attention early on and he painted many in both oil and acrylic during those years. He rediscovered the subject during a family vacation to Maine in 2003. He now makes several painting trips to the New England coast every year. Tony is primarily a self-taught artist, he has painted in a variety of media, including oils, acrylics, as well as in watercolor. He is a committed watercolorist, attracted by the unique working characteristics of watercolor paint and the finished transparency that is unattainable in any other medium. He continues to work in with other media and with different subjects, a practice that is both challenging and creatively stimulating. Tony creates his watercolor paintings and architectural illustrations from his Bennington, Vermont studio.