Bradley Hendershot
Bradley Hendershot is primarily a painter of coastal Maine and rural Pennsylvania - regions that he knows well, regions that have special meaning to him. Many of Brad's subjects can be found close to his home and studio in Upper Hanover Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
"My Pennsylvania paintings depict the rural community and a way of life that is quickly fading into the past. Many of the timber and stone bams and mills, the houses and outbuildings, which are part of the Pennsylvania heritage, are rapidly disappearing. I'd like to feel, in a way, that I have preserved them in my paintings."
"In Maine, I paint the rugged shoreline of the mid-coast region and Monhegan Island where I enjoy the smell of salt air and the feeling of sea spray. I've always loved the sea, probably a combination of things the boats, the energy of the surf, the rocks, the storms and the romance of it all. I hope this comes across in my paintings of the weathered clapboard lobster shanties and the granite towers of the lighthouses."
Brad has been drawing and painting most of his life. "My early inspiration and guidance came from my dad." Brad is the son of artist Ray Hendershot.
Using a representational approach in his painting, most of Brad's work has been in the water-media. "I find watercolor to be very challenging and rewarding, and I like the spontaneity and freshness of the medium." If Brad gets particularly involved with the form and texture of a subject, he takes watercolor one step further, employing a drybrush technique.
Using drybrush, textures and details are built up by applying small strokes of the brush and very little water with the pigment. The drybrush work is built upon an initial watercolor wash that is usually quite fluid. The color, in spots, may be very dense and opaque, emphasizing the transparency of other areas. Most often, a combination of both wetbrush and drybrush techniques can be found in a single work. "I don't stick to the traditional watercolor rules in my painting. I use a variety of techniques, doing what I feel is necessary to obtain the result I want in the finished work." Brad begins each new concept by doing preliminary sketches ofthe subject. These studies may be done in pencil, pen and ink, or watercolor.
Brad paints with an intense devotion to realistic detail while at the same time artistic license is employed for the sake of composition and to evoke a certain feeling or mood in the viewer. Using his creativity in the overall planning of a work, Brad emphasizes the features and details that best capture and produce the desired effect or emotion. Brad feels that each new work presents an opportunity to develop and refine his techniques. Thus, Brad will continue to grow for as long as he continues to paint.
Bradley is currently represented by Hardcastle Gallery in Centreville, Delaware, Travis Gallery near New Hope, Pennsylvania, Gallery-by-the-Sea in Port Clyde, Maine and Lupine Gallery on Monhegan Island, Maine. He is a signature artist member of the American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA), a signature professional artist of the International Society of Marine Painters (ISMP), and a signature member of the Philadelphia Water Color Society. His works appear in public and private collections including the corporate collections of MBNA, Bank of Delaware, and Delaware Trust. Bradley's paintings have been issued as limited-edition reproductions.
