RALPH C. WELSH III
RALPH C. WELSH III
312 West Church
Street
Somerset, Pa. 15501
(814) 445-6818
Email rwelsh@shol.com
Member of
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
and Pittsburgh Society of Artists
Biography
I was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania in 1941. From the time I was a child I enjoyed art and classical music and always thought I would become an artist or composer; however, someday never arrived until now; close to the end of my life. For the past fifty years I enjoyed good music and read every art book I could get my hands on. Stationed in Germany during the mid-sixties, I would travel to Rothanburg on weekends to paint. Several German artists who had studios in Rothanburg would help me by selecting a site for me to paint. They would then stop by several times during the day to see how I was doing and offer a critique at the end of the day. They had commissions to work on and could not teach me full time, only on weekends. From time to time, I would repay their kindness with several cartons of American cigarettes. From Germany, I requested to be sent to Vietnam in 1967-68 because I was a medic and thought I could be of help. In Vietnam I had little time for painting. In fact, painting just did not seem that important then. When I got back to the states I was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where I was in the Clinical Research Division. I got married to a terrific woman and with her we raised two wonderful daughters and we now have two terrific grandchildren, Alex and Zoe, (who love to paint). I turned my back to my painting for almost forty years. Three years ago my heart deteriorated to the point that my doctors said it was inoperable and nothing more could be done. So I went home to die. Then I thought to myself, “If I don’t start painting now, I would run out of time!” So, I started painting three years and almost five hundred paintings later here I stand!! But above all, to God I give all the praise and all the glory.
I am primarily a landscape painter who also enjoys still life painting. I have recently discovered “Pastels” and it is like eating candy. You can’t get enough of it. When we look at a painting, it is the overall effect that grabs our attention; not the detail. Detail is the biggest obstacle I face in my painting-not how to deal with it, but how to avoid it completely. Look at one of Monet’s wonderful paintings and it will make my point for me. Less is always more especially when you’re painting, but don’t take my word for it go see for yourself any museum has many examples. In the late sixties, I was obsessed with detail and how to render it successfully. That was my undoing as an artist. I became discouraged with my work and quit. Now forty years later after having read many books on the Impressionists, I discovered their wonderful philosophy that detail should not be the main goal for artists. It just confuses them! The strongest artist’s statement I can make to any artist is “Avoid Detail”!
To God I give all the praise and the glory.
Ralph C. Welsh III
A few of the artists I have studied or painted with:
Franz B Carol Volz Begley
Ralph Clemenson Philip Salvato
Connie Meriman Kathy Frost
Helen Thorne William Pfhal
Ron Donoughe David P. Ludwick
John DelMonte William DeBernardi
James Sulkowski Chuck Percherke
William Hoffman Catherine Rosensteel
Linda Peck