Artsellers Henry

Paul Blaine Henrie

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.