Grapevine Newsle
er
Winter 2026
No. 22
Artist Member Highlight
WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE?
DEL-BOURrEE BACH Signature Member Interview by Christopher Forrest, EAM
Summer Sanctuary
https://www.del-bourreebach.com/
Always on the Lookout Describe your journey and development as an artist. What experiences, interests, and people have shaped your work? My grandfather was a talented amateur artist and gave me drawing lessons as a child, which got me started. I continued, mostly through trial and error and observation, and some classes along the way here and there, but I consider myself essentially self-taught. As I continued to hone my skills, I began getting work in New York as an illustrator in my 20s, got an agent, and had a successful career for quite a few years, working often for the New York Times and other publications. During this time, I kept developing my painting skills and, over time, dropped the illustration work to concentrate on my own painting. At rst, I did outdoor art shows then found galleries locally to show my work. I was also asked to apply to the Salmagundi Club in 1979 as a scholarship member, and was accepted, which began my long relationship with the Club, and also started my interest in entering juried shows, which I enjoy to this day. As I began to show regionally and nationally, winning awards along the way, my work was published in art magazines, and I began to build a reputation and more opportunities for gallery representation came along. For the rst 25 years of my career, I lived and worked in Manhattan, my studio was in our apartment in
close quarters. That all changed in 2003,when we bought our property in Mystic, CT and I was able to able to spread out. It really doesn't matter how much space you have, as long as you produce good work, but it sure is nice. My studio is a short walk up the hill from our house, I call it “The Aerie” and I feel very lucky and get inspired whenever I walk in.
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How do you develop a painting? What is your process? Since I am primarily a studio painter, I always start with a subject that has caught my interest at some time. I have a treasure trove of my own reference photos and sketches from places I have been and loved over many years, and just things that I see every day. I am always on the lookout for something new. I decide what size I will make the painting and cut a board, rarely a standard size. I work in many layers, beginning with several opaque layers of base colors for the piece. I take a lot of time on this, as it establishes depth, which will build up as I go on. I draw and paint only with a brush, working from distance to foreground to focal point and lling in and glazing over as I go along. It is a mixed bag, I go back and forth between wet on wet and dry for details. It does take time, and at the end the layers of glazing are as close to transparent as I can get. I often will be working on
up to 3 paintings at a time, in varying stages.
use them for textures. I use as big a brush as I can for as long as I can and then go down to smaller for the details. I never use projections and I don't use a straight edge or for anything, horizons or structural lines or even rigging. I will rely on my eye/hand for as long as I can and any slight faults are part of the human touch.
What's your daily schedule? What activities do you like to include on a weekly basis? I keep an old-fashioned date book with a schedule for everything I need to do related to art, deadlines for gallery deliveries, entries for juried shows, shipping deadlines, calls I need to make, etc. I look at it every morning over coffee and then set about doing all those necessary tasks in the morning, if possible, then get to the studio to paint by noon or 1PM and usually work until 6 or 7. I feel it is important to know when to stop, clear my head for the next day, or moving on to the next step in a painting. I enjoy going to receptions, seeing shows, looking at my fellow artists' work.
It’s Important to Give Back What's most important to you as an artist? I want to be able to continue to paint what inspires me at as high a level as I can. Also, I feel it is important to give back. We as artists do not (or should not) work in a vacuum. We are incredibly fortunate to be able to create and use our talents to do what we love. As I have become more successful, I can devote more time to helping art organizations which have helped me and others. I serve on boards, committees, as an auctioneer, donate paintings and my time whenever I can. It is a juggle at times, but a good one.
What are your materials, palette, brands, brushes, favorite Mediums, etc.? I have worked in many 2D mediums at some point in my life. As an illustrator, I started out with tight pen and ink pointillism, did some oils, pastels, mixed media, but overtime I came to prefer working with water based paints. Most of my paintings are acrylic on Masonite panel, I like the smoothness, how the paint ows on it. For watercolor I like 300 lb Arches. My favorite paint is Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic, Winsor & Newton for watercolor. I use no retardants with acrylics, other than a lot of water. I do like to use the best professional level watercolor brushes for my acrylics, both at and round in various sizes. They are softer and handle the amount of water I use the best. I also love to keep old brushes around and
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What are your interests other than art? First and foremost, enjoying my life and my home in Mystic, CT with my wife, Kristen, our cats and turtles, and friends and family. In recent years I have taken up pickleball. I also have fun writing and recording ads for my website, which air and stream on WCRI – Classical 95.9 FM. Radio ads for art – yes, have been doing it for many years – they direct folks to my website and they can link directly from there to the galleries where they can nd each piece that I post. I do not use it for direct sales but let the galleries do that. If you listen you
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will hear many characters and voices, stories and parodies, many are Kristen and me, others are the engineers and announcers from the station. I love a good sense of humor and I am not big on “artspeak”. Along the same line, for 6 Decembers now I have been the voice of “Radio Santa” on WBMW 106.5 FM, a station in our area which streams everywhere as well. Kristen often joins me as Mrs. Santa and numerous elves. Kristen and I are both involved as patrons and volunteers with marine mammal and sea turtle rescue at Mystic Aquarium. I have the great privilege of being able to observe animals up close for reference, seal releases are some of my favorite times. I am also a member of Artists for Conservation, a wonderful organization where artists can help support conservation organizations of their choice.
truly a standout piece. I always look for good design, technique, drawing, use of color (or not), but there has to be something special, a certain something that grabs me beyond the norm. Your work is in numerous top galleries. What do you look for in a gallery? How do you approach them? As I said earlier, I started showing in smaller galleries, then overtime, as my work matured and my reputation increased, the galleries started to approach me. It is important to maintain good relationships with galleries, keep in touch, don't just drop work off and ignore it, but don't bug them too much either. It is a delicate balance but denitely pays off. My best advice when looking for a gallery is to rst check the artists they represent. If they have many whose work is too similar to yours, best to move on. You do not want to conict, your work will stand out if it is different from others, if it can be picked out as yours from across a crowded room. It is true that certain galleries specialize in a certain style, but make sure yours stands out even in that situation. Going forward, what are your artistic goals? My artistic goal at this point in my life is to maintain the highest quality I can but not kill myself by working too hard or long on something. I mentioned earlier that it is important to know when to stop, not to overwork anything and to know when one more brushstroke will be one too many. I also think it is important to nd time to “smell the roses” a bit more than I did when I was younger. I love painting and I am really blessed to be able to wake up each morning and continue to pursue my passion. As the song goes, “Who can ask for anything more?”. I do still enjoy the competition aspect of the art world – it keeps me humble, although it is always nice to be recognized with another award!
Lou-Seal What question would you most like to be asked? What theme would you like to explore? How would you like to respond? When I am at a large, juried show, I am happy when someone comes up to me and asks “That's your painting, right?” when they are looking at it from a distance. I like to respond, “Yes” which happens at least 90% of the time, which to me means that my artistic voice is as individual as I can make it. As for exploring a theme, I am always open to expanding my horizons. What books do you routinely refer or return to? I own many art books and have looked at them through the years for inspiration. I do not try to emulate or copy any artist, old or new. When I was just starting out, my grandmother gave me an Andrew Wyeth book, which I return to from time to time, among others. When selecting art for a show, what do you look for? What concrete advice can you give us to have our work selected? Always put your best foot forward. Select work that shows consistency of style, if you can submit more than one, but give a variety of subject matter, so they don't ght each other. Never just go into the closet and pull something out, show what you consider your best current work. Choose something that you feel shows what makes your work stand out from other pieces that might be entered. When awarding prizes, what do you look for? When I jury a show for awards, I try to select a group that is diverse, a range of styles, mediums (2D and 3D) and subject matter. I do not like to see all the awards given to one type of work in any exhibition. My own painting is highly realistic, and I try to avoid giving more than one of the top prizes to anything that looks too much like my own work, unless it is
Flight Deck
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My Old Pal What advice do you have for artists; emerging, those considering the career leap, and established? Here's my advice to those starting out and it applies to those in later stages as well. It is not enough to rely on your talent, that is what is given to you, but it is only 20% of what it takes to become successful, and to remain so. The rest is hard work, keeping at it, sometimes dealing with rejection, setbacks, etc. I always say to remember the three Ds – desire, discipline and deadlines. It is a sacrice to be a professional artist, but when you get to that level, it is worth all the effort. Another piece of advice is to work on and keep up your people skills. If you are nice, humble and fun to be around, it is the best way to deal with galleries, collectors, other artists, anybody! Keep on creating, work every day or as much as you can, and ENJOY IT!
K - There are so many, but I can denitely relate to walking out to end of many a dock or rock outcropping. I have no fear and have always been happy to go to the edge of the world, as I call it, to help get a great shot, or for no reason at all. I could tell this story, but I will leave it to Del, as I believe he will do it justice, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. D – Years ago my wife, Kristen and I were out on Montauk on Long Island taking a few days to celebrate her 45th birthday. I was doing a plein air painting of the Montauk Lighthouse and Kristen, as was her usual habit, had found the biggest rock she could climb just off the shore and was just relaxing and looking out to sea. When I was done painting, I turned around and saw her sitting there. She was wearing a long summer dress, and a beautiful hat – I called out to her “Stay there – don't move!” Realizing what was going on, and being the great model that she is, she stayed, although the tide was coming in. I got my camera and later in my studio I ended up producing a large painting of her which I called “Edge of the World”. It was a pivotal painting for me, stylistically and otherwise. It went on to win many awards and made the cover of
You have some great questions for my wife, Kristen as well. My lovely wife actually agreed to walk out on a dock where a vulture was sunning itself, thus spooking the buzzard allowing me to photograph a complete take off and landing sequence. What's your favorite artist spouse story?
Reminisence
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Del with his main muse, his wife Kristen
American Artists Magazine when they did their rst article on me and my work the next year. It is still one of my favorite paintings, and of course we never wanted to sell it. It hangs in our home to this day. Kristen remains a wonderful model, and I have painted her many times, and she is still winning me awards. How would you describe your journey as the spouse of an artist? K - Now that is one for me. It begins with my journey as the daughter of an artist. My father was also a successful painter, and I grew up painting with him and traveling with him when he painted. It was a great life and I always loved the art world, going to museums and galleries with him. He was a member of Salmagundi Club as well from the time I was quite young, and I often teased Del that I had been there much longer than he had. We did not meet there, but when we did, Del had already been a member there for a number of years. I have always enjoyed being a part of Del's work. Even when I was very busy working full time in the theater in New York, I was a part of it, keeping track of things so he could have more time to create. I have painted too off and on, but it was never my profession. I think I am a good support system, and those mornings over coffee he talked about are an important time for both of us to keep things on schedule, keep those deadlines. Being the one of the two of us who deals with most technical and computer issues, I do take care of things like inventory, updating his website, and also lling out some entry forms and such. We did own a gallery together in Mystic, CT for a number of years and represented more than 40 artists at one time. I loved that, I took care of pretty much all of the day to day things and the sales, while Del was home in the studio painting, but we loved hanging shows together, and we gave great receptions. A great time in both our lives, but now I am happy, as Del is, to “smell the roses” and enjoy our wonderful life together.
Moon Over the Range
Baby Godzilla vs Tonka
Early to Rise Many thanks to AAPL friend and Elected Artist Member, Christopher Forrest and his dear wife Camille for the time, effort and enthusiasm spent in interviewing Signature Member and award winning artist Del-Bourree Bach and his lovely wife Kristen. The American Artists Professional League appreciates you and all of our members. It is our privilege to know you and experience the outstanding art you create. AAPL is better because of all of you.
Camille and Chris Forrest with Del
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