About Me
About My Art
How do I describe my work? It has gone through so many changes through the years that it's hard to know where to start. My influences have included such disparate artists as Herbert Bayer, MC Escher, P. Picasso, Wolf Kahn and Richard Diebenkorn. And of course, my Mother, well known artist Merle Izard (one of the finest draftsmen I have ever known!) who first taught me the art of drawing and mixing paints. After over 40 years of working professionally, it's difficult to pinpoint the inspirations, but the sky on a wind torn day, or a passage of music might be all I need to inspire a piece. My medium--oil pastel, the most saturated and creamiest I can find, mixed with transparent oils and sometimes the crazy touch of collage- has led me into images I would never have thought of. This medium has been a leader as well as a tool. Many a 'mistake' has led me to new discoveries and thus richer images.
For all my paintings I use only the finest oil paints and oil pastels. All original works are framed in wood and, as these are varnished drawings, they are presented without glass.
My Story
In my 45 years as a professional artist my art has gone through many changes. My earliest works were very hard edged abstract serigraphs influenced by Herbert Bayer and Victor Vasserely. I began doing serigraphs working for my Mother, a professional artist, and continued learning in art school earning a BFA in printmaking. I was in my first Gallery (Baridoff Galleries, Portland , Maine) and began doing outdoor art shows while still in school. It’s been a long journey to where I am now but one cannot help but still carry the many influences that affected ones work. I’m often asked where my Wild Women
came from and I love to kid back... There were many wild women in my life, then I married one and I had to let the others go.
But they really came about slowly. As I left the abstract serigraphs behind I began to explore ancient works such as cave painting and petroglyphs. So figures showed up in my works. The Egyptian figures morphed into my "Wild Women"... During this time I was also a private pilot and was working on a large series of aerial view paintings. Many of my very large arial paintings/mixed media works can be found in schools around Maine. These arial paintings slowly morphed into what I now call my “Far Side of the World” paintings. Somewhere along the line I discovered a process that gave me these huge beautiful skies. Around that time I was also doing shows out in the midwest and kept seeing these large empty expanses with these single lonely trees and houses. I love the look and the feeling of those fields and the lonely tree.
So, where to from here? I'm not sure. The loss of my house and my studio have left me at a crossroad to be sure. Some of my favorite recent works have been the abstracts I called "Fractured landscapes". If and when I get back to work I will most likely be working in that direction.
Resume
Special Exhibitions:
- One Person Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- Portland Show, Greenhut Galleries,Portland, ME
- Over Under Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- One Person Show,Brockman Gallery, Brunswick, ME
- Group Show, Frick Gallery, Belfast, ME
- CD Release,
Out Of Time But Still In Step
, Biff & The Buffaloes - Recent Acquisitions, The Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
- Permanent Collection, Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy, Sarasota, FL
- Annual Juried Show, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
- ‘The Juried Show, by Invitation.’ Maine Coast Artists gallery, Rockport, ME
- One Person Show, Unity college, Unity, ME
- Group Show, Hobe Sound Gallery, Brunswick, ME
- Annual Juried Show, Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, ME
- MCA Alumni Show, Baxter Gallery Portland, ME
- MCA Alumni Show, thomas Moser Gallery, Freeport, ME
- America’s Vanishing Landscape, Sound Shore Gallery, Stamford, CT
- Invitational Exhibition, CMP Company, Augusta, ME
- Group Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- Group Show, Hobe Sound Gallery, Brunswick, ME
- Maine Coast Artists Gallery Annual Juried Show, Maine Coast Artists Gallery,
Rockport, ME and the Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME - One Person Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- Group Show, Kerygma Gallery, Ridgewood, NJ
- Images of Maine: Maine Savings Bank Collection, DeCordiva Museum, MA
- Five Years In One Hundred: Recent Acquisitions, Portland Museum Of Art, ME
- Maine Coast Artist Gallery Annual Juried Show, Rockport, ME
- Group Show, Sound Shore Gallery, Stamford, CT
- One Person Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- Two Person Show, Aries East Gallery, Brewster, MA
- Two Person Show, Sound Shore Gallery, Stamford, CT
- Maine College of Art Juried Alumni Show, Portland, ME
- One Person Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- Premier: First Exhibition of Portland Galleries, Portland, ME
- Maine College of Art Juried Alumni Show, Portland, ME
- Two Man Show, Sound Shore Gallery, Stamford, CT
- Maine College of Art Juried Alumni Show, Portland, ME
- Gallery Artists Exhibition, Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT
- Critter Show, University of New England Art Gallery, Portland, Maine
- Gallery Artists Exhibition, Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT
- Maine College of Art Juried alumni Show, Portland, ME
- Annual, Five Towns Music and Arts Foundation, LI, NY
- Group Show, Portland Pier gallery, Portland, ME
- Maine College of Art Juried Show, Portland, ME
- Silvermine Painting and Sculpture Show, New Canann, CT
- Gallery Artists Exhibition, Greene Gallery Gilford, CT
- Group Show Sarah Rentschler Gallery, LI, NY
- Open Juried Exhibition, Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT
- Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Juried Show, Rockport, ME
- Silvermine Painting and Sculpture Show, New Canaan, CT
- Guest Artist One Person Show, Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT
- Graphics Exhibition, Juried Photography Show, Ingram, TX
- Annual Juried Show, Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME
- Colored Drawing Show, Barridoff Gallery, Portland, ME
- One Person Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- Juried Show, Milford fine Arts Council, Milford, CT
- Bridgton Juried Art Show, Bridgton, ME
- Paperworks, Payson Gallery, Westbrook, ME
- Small Works Show, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
- All Maine biennial, Bowdoin College, Brunswick,ME
- Maine Coast Gallery, Artist Group Show, Rockport, ME
- Bridgton Juried Show, Bridgton, ME
- Maine Printmakers Show, Barridoff Gallery, Portland, ME
- Silvermine 12th National Print Exhibition, New Canaan, CT
Birthplace
- Born in 1955 in New York City.
Education:
- 1979 BFA, Maine College of Art
- 1974-5 Windham College, Putney, VT
Special Commissions:
- Aerial View, Mast Landing School, Freeport, ME
- Aerial View, Winterport Middle School, Winterport, ME
- Aerial View, Naples Middle School, Naples, ME
- Aerial View, Elsworth High School, Elsworth, ME
- Aerial View, Sanford Elementary School, Sanford, ME
- Aerial View, Mars Hill Elementary School, Mars Hill, ME
Publisher:
- Artique, Brewster, NY
Reference:
- 1995 Maine Sunday Telegram, June 4, 1995
- Coastal Journal, May 10, 1995
- Face Magazine, June 7, 1995
- Brunswick Times Record, June 22, 1995
- The Advocate, Stamford, CT Oct. 6th, 1995
- The Music Paper, Oct. 1995
- Cradle Magazine, July 1995
Articles:
- 2001 Brunswick Times Record, February 8th
- 1994 Brunswick Times Record, March 10th
- 1991 The Waldo Independent, November 28
- 15th Edition of Men of Achievement, Cambridge, England
- 1990 ‘Who’s Who Among Rising Young Americans’
- 1989 American Artist Magazine, December
- 1987 Brunswick Times Record, November
- Maine Sunday Telegram, August 9th
- 1986 Maine Times, April
- Maine Times, March
- 1985 Greenwich Times, CT
- 1984 Art In New England, March
- Portland Evening Express, May
- New York Sunday Times, May 20
- 1981 Maine Sunday Telegram, November 15
- Maine times, November
- 1980 Portland Press Herald, December 10
- 1978 Maine Times, March
My Family
I live in Brunswick, Maine with my wife Chaké, also a painter as well as an art teacher in the public school system. We renovated the barn next to our house and it, along with a "She Shack" Chaké uses in the summer, is our studio. We have two grown sons, Hunter and Skyler. Hunter and his wife Joanna live in Alexandria, Va and are avid fencers as well as fencing instructors at George Washington University. Our Son Skyler lives near to us with his partner Amanda and her two daughters, Lexi and Éva. Éva is our grand daughter and, needless to say, the light of our lives. My Mother, Merle Izard, one of the finest artists I’ve ever known, is 94 and lives in Sea Cliff, NY. My Dad, Bruce Peyton, a professional musician, passed away fourteen years ago.
Chaké and I have been avid telemark skiers and I was the co-founder and ski school director of a telemark organization/ski school called New England Telemark (NET). (Everyone knew me by my nickname "Biff") It was the only PSIA certified telemark ski school in the country and had over 30 instructors. Along with being the ski school director I was also a PSIA level three instructor. These days I am a NSCA certified shotgun instructor and Master Class shooter. I am the 2022 Maine State Sporting clays SSVT Champion. Along with shooting competitively I teach sporting clays at LLBean.
I am an avid Engfist.
brother Bruce). The little girl up front on Hunter's lap is Skyler's daughter, Eva.
My Music
Although no where close to the musician my father was I do play piano and have a grand piano (as well as many bass guitars) in my music room. Much of my music can be found on my YouTube channel.