(A special thanks to Allen Gladwell Carter, Sr., artist extraordinaire and my brother-in-law for permission to reprint the following article. It appeared in the May 2006 issue of “DelawareToday Magazine” under Active Lifestyles section with full page photograph by Thom Thompson. Thanks to Allen for adding an “update” at the end of the article.
Be sure to check out his paintings at http://www.allengcartersr.com/bio.htm)
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Aging with Easel
Until four years ago, Allen Carter Sr. had never touched brush to canvas.
Now he’s mad for Velasquez, takes 12 hours of painting instruction a week and is working on three different paintings.
Carter, 74, and a handful of fellow artists sometimes share the cost of a model. They meet in the basement studio of Carter’s Wilmington home.
Frances, his wife of 41 years, earned her master’s in psychology in 2000 and has worked as a therapist and substance abuse counselor for the past five years. It was his wife’s return to college that inspired Carter to pursue art.
He retired eight years ago after a career in international marketing, then returned to college, earning a bachelor’s of fine arts in 2001 from West Chester University.
“I had fun with the kids in college,” Carter says. “It was a blast. The age difference disappeared in about two weeks because I was competing with them.”
Carter studies privately with Neilson Carlin, director of the Brandywine Atelier School of Classical Painting in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. “I can’t wait until I get to his class, and I hate to leave,” Carter says.
Carter, who paints in the classic realist tradition, works in his own studio two days a week and spends at least thee hours a week training another artist. He held his first show last year at West Chester’s Mitchell Hall.
“I never expected to get this far, quite frankly,” he says. “I surprised myself. I didn’t think I’d have the talent, energy or the desire. All of the sudden I thought, What the heck? I can do this, too.”
Carter is working on a replica of Diego Velasquez’s “The Water Seller of Seville,” a portrait of the Duke of Wellington and a painting of Frances with their son, Allen Jr., from a photo Carter took 30 years ago.
UPDATE, MARCH 2010
Aging with Easel continues. Allen had a two man show (with Neilson Carlin) at the Pierre S. du Pont Art Center in Wilmington, DE in February, 2009. He was a featured artist in the Feb./Mar. 2009 issue of International Art magazine, “A Students Case For The Reproduction of Master Paintings”.
He is currently a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, and the Portrait Society of America. And, he has participated in shows at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Newman Galley (Phila.), and the Rehoboth Beach Art League.
Where can you find and purchase Allen’s paintings?
- His website, http://www.allengcartersr.com/
- Currently, some of his works are showing at the Hardcastle Galley in Centreville, DE.
- This spring if you’re in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area, check out his show at the Burlington Art Center in Burlington, N.J.
Thank you, Allen, for sharing your journey in discovering your passion for painting and your wonderful works of art!!!
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About the artist –Allen Gladwell Carter, Sr.
Allen Gladwell Carter, Sr. (1931 -) was born in Southampton, New York and obtained an engineering degree in 1953. Following military service he pursued a career in international marketing, during which time he took advantage of his worldwide travels to study the great architecture and major museum collections of the world. Upon retirement, he obtained a second degree at West Chester University in West Chester, PA, earning in 2001, a BFA in the studio arts with a minor in art history. Since that timed he has studied continually at the Rilievo Studio with artist/director Neilson Carlin in Kennett Square, PA. This has been supplemented with courses at the Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD), the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and teaching as a visiting artist at West Chester University, instructing in the areas of art history, color and design, and drawing of the human figure. Mr. Carter is a member of the Portrait Society of America, and the Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Mr. Carter’s last exhibit of the works of his studio was at the Pierre S. du Pont Art Center in Wilmington, DE, 6 – 27 February 2009.
Mr. Carter resides with his wife in Greenville and Rehoboth Beach, DE.
For more information visit www.allengcartersr.com
