Marine Artist J.A.Kendall
John Allan Kendall was born on leap day, February 29th , 1944 in Nashua,
New Hampshire and grew up in a nearby town called Litchfield. He graduated
from Alvirne High School in Hudson, New Hampshire in 1962 and from the
University of New Hampshire four years later with a degree in Art
Education. He taught
1st ö12th grade Art in both Sunapee and New London, New Hampshire for
three years before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from
San Francisco State College in 1972 with a Masters Degree in Creative
Arts.
Kendall developed the technique he calls " Sepia Pen & Ink Wash Drawings" while completing his Masterās project at the houseboat community in Sausalito, California. Sepia brown ink seemed to capture the warmth and feeling of the area. The early experience of living at this houseboat community, for six years, among the old ferryboats and riverboats, certainly helped the artist years later in the field of Marine Art.
Since the series of houseboat scenes the artist has also done a series of San Francisco street scenes, New Orleans street scenes and Jazz Musicians, and scenes of Ibiza, Spain (a small Island in the Mediterranean) where the artist lived for a number of years. The scenes of the Island are a real contrast to the drawing the artist did, on location, of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
Since 1980 Kendall has specialized in Marine Art and has a series of "Tall Ships" in print. The "Tall Ship" series thus far is from photographs the artist took at "Boston Jubilee 350" (celebrating the 350th anniversary of Boston) in June of 1980, before a trans-Atlantic race, and at "Sail Amsterdam" six weeks later, at the completion of the race. Since then further photographs to work from were taken by the artist at "Sail Amsterdam" in 1985, and again in 1990. Still photographs taken at the "Statue of Liberty Celebration"(celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty), as well as hundreds of photographs taken in 1992 at the "Columbus Regatta" (celebrating the 500th Anniversary of Columbusāvoyage) at "Op Sail New York" , "Op Sail Boston", and the Newport, Rhode Island Regatta add greatly to the artistās research.
Eventually, Kendall hopes to do drawings of all the Class A "Tall Ships". When complete, he would like to have a book published showing all of these beautiful sailing ships in their various moods ö under full sail on the North Sea & Atlantic, coming through the fog at events such as "Op Sail New York" & the Newport Regatta in 1992, attending major events such as "Sail Amsterdam", "Sail Boston" etc.
An average of 200-250 hours is spent on each original drawing. Using a magnifying glass helps the artist capture the detail he wants from the rigging right down to every little twist and turn of the sea. Look really close and youāll see the bearded figure of the artist in each of his works.
After a year of doing commissions of private yachts in Antibes, Nice and Cannes on the "French Riviera" the artist returned to New Hampshire where he is continuing his "Tall Ship" series and is again teaching art. This much traveled Marine Artist enjoys the challenge of teaching art ( kindergarten through eighth grade ) in Henniker, New Hampshire, "the Only Henniker on Earth". Kendall loves to share his enthusiasm for Marine Art with his students and feels that one is never too young to develop an awareness of these beautiful sailing ships and the sea.