Born in Tampa, Florida in 1932,
Blaine Henrie became a California landscape
painter, active in the Laguna Beach Art Association and the Carmel Art
Association.
He and his wife arrived in Laguna Beach in 1960 with a small child, financed
car and virtually no money. >From that time having settled in Three Arch
Bay, he has turned out thousands of paintings and has also became a
controversial member of the artist colony there, one of the reasons being
that he makes no secret of the fact that he paints to make money--"a home in
the hills, a studio at the beach, tiffany lamps, antique automobiles, rare
pool tables, etc."
On the East Coast, Edwin Barrie, Director of the Grand Central Art Galleries
in New York, described Henrie as "A budding
genius from California."
About his detractors, Henrie said: "I don't give
a damn. . .My work is geared mostly to pleasing
myself--not a jury."
Henrie's biggest problem has been keeping up
with the demand for his work and has a large number of collectors including
celebrities Vincent Price, Glenn Ford, Jack Lemon, Jack Benny and Edward G.
Robinson.
In style, Henrie is much inspired by the work of
Vincent Van Gogh, and "he often makes more money in one day of painting than
Van Gogh made in his entire life."
Henrie paints rapidly, "the fastest palette
knife painter in the world." Working relentlessly, he often uses watercolor
and sometimes acrylic, and quite often completes
several paintings a day. However, they can take a year or so to completely
dry. Early in his career, he painted with casein, which dried quickly and
allowed him to develop his fast-paced production method. |