Donald Foster Clapper - Portrait of a Blonde Girl Wearing a Veil - Oil Painting

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Donald Foster Clapper - Portrait of a Blonde Girl Wearing a Veil - Oil Painting

American Realist - Oil painting … Read more Donald Foster Clapper - Portrait of a Blonde Girl Wearing a Veil - Oil Painting

American Realist - Oil painting on board - signed -
board size: 16x20" - Frame size: 26x30"

Artist Biography
Donald Foster Clapper (Born 1959) is active/lives in Arizona, Ohio. He is known for Trompe l'oeil still life. Although Donald Clapper grew up in the Northeast, home of many great American still Life and trompe l'oeil masters, this coincidence did not influence his attraction to the world of art. After graduating from the University of Colorado with a B.A. Degree in 1983, Clapper began a successful real estate career in Florida and his hobby interests at that time were in competitive golf and skiing.
Unbeknownst to him, an unplanned stop to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1980's became the momentum that drew him to Trompe l'Oeil and Classic Realism after he saw an original William Harnett painting. He marveled at Harnett's ability to create both unbelievable detail and illusionary dimension and began a personal study on the Old Masters Dutch still life painters and shortly thereafter, focused on the American Trompe l'Oeil School of painters of the late 1800's specifically, William M. Harnett, John Haberle, and John Peto.Clapper's painting developed during the 1980-90's while he lived and worked in Gainesville, Florida at which time he also married and started a family. Due to the busyness of the daytime, he pursued his artwork during the quiet evening and predawn hours. It was during this season, he developed his own techniques and proficiency as he applied the Old Masters' methods of indirect lighting, shadowing, glazing, and multi-dimensional affects to the canvas. He began his first series of tabletop still life, including Afternoon Tea, which won both local and nationwide awards including a centerfold winner of Art Calendar Magazine, October issue, 2000. After a period of painting still life's, Clapper completed "Tribute to William Harnett", a trompe l'oeil that not only pays homage to his first "silent mentor" what's more, it eludes the viewer to believe it may have been painted from the studio of none other than John Peto, Harnett's student and friend. In 1994, Clapper relocated his family to Scottsdale, Arizona where he still abides and works in his Fountain Hills studio painting. Clapper's study focused once again to the genre of trompe l'oeil including this time some modern-day masters, namely Ken Davies and David Brega. Clapper's work has received national as well as regional recognition. He paints almost exclusively trompe l'oeil these days, except for some personally commissioned tabletop still life’s. Clapper is in the completion stages of his latest series, "American History As Seen Through Trompe l'Oeil" in which he paints a pictorial interpretation of events reflecting the different eras in American history. Included in this series, are War and Peace on Mom's Cupboard Door, a tribute to WW II veterans from a Mother's perspective; Getaway Money, things found in a cowboy's back pocket during the late 1800s, stagecoach robbery days; and Gone Fishing, could be anyone's black and white photo of grandpa standing on a wooden bridge, old car and fishing lures all mounted on a painted weathered piece of wood. Clapper is also the co-founder of the Trompe l'Oeil Society of Artists, an exclusive group of today's finest artists dedicated to the genre of trompe l'oeil. The group was formed for the purpose of promoting and advancing the visibility of trompe l'oeil on a national level as well as to encourage excellence in individual artists by connecting to a group with similar talent and aspiration. The first annual group show is being planned for early spring, 2002 featuring seven of America's leading trompe l'oeil artists. See less