Light and lineage: In retirement, Andover man discovers the joy of painting In retirement, Andover man discovers the joy of painting By Terry Date tdate@nortofboston.com 50 min ago MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo Artist David Drinon of Andover holds one of his oil paintings: a study of the Nevins Memorial Library in Methuen. MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo
Courtesy images Jewel in the Garden is one of Drinon s oil landscapes.
Courtesy image Morning Light shows the Andover Center for History & Culture.
MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo Artist David Drinon of Andover reflects on his work while working in his Lowell studio. MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo
MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo David Drinon works on the early stages of a seascape painting at his studio in Lowell. MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo
Courtesy images Left, Miacomet, Nantucket was selected for the prestigious 2018 Regional Juried Exhibition of The Guild of Boston Artists. Right, the artist s Memories on Merrimack Street, a street scene, showcases a New England painting tradition with roots in the Old World.
Courtesy image A painting by Andover artist Dave Drinon shows Dana s Luncheonette in Lowell.
First Snow Merrimack Street depicts a scene in Lowell.
MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photopainter David Drinon works at his studio in Lowell. The Andover artists s appreciation for light and mood and color and place are reflected in his landscapes, seascapes and street scenes. MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo
MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photoartist David Drinon of Andover works on a painting in his studio in Lowell. MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo
MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo Artist David Drinon of Andover looks over some of his paintings in his studio in Lowell. MIKE SPRINGER/Staff photo
, 5/16/17, 1:02 PM, 8C, 6208x7416 (1762+2042), 108%, Art 1, 1/30 s, R117.6, G86.8, B98.0 Andover artist Dave Drinon points out the reflected north light sifting into his Lowell studio this early afternoon three days into the new year. The light entering the window is even, the kind French painters, even those before the impressionists, liked to paint in. Drinon likes it, too, and likes being part of a lineage, a New England painting tradition with roots in the Old World.
His appreciation for light and mood and color and place are reflected in the framed landscapes, seascapes and street scenes that hang on the walls of his studio in this former textile mill. His appreciation for history, and lineage, shows in the satisfaction he takes in a recent painting milestone. His painting Miacomet, Nantucket was accepted into the 2018 Regional Juried Exhibition of The Guild of Boston Artists, a highly competitive show that accepts only 10 percent of the submissions. I had never submitted before, and I may never get in again, Drinon said. The Guild, a nonprofit arts association that shows traditional paintings by living New England artists, is located on Newbury Street in Boston. It was founded in 1914 by prominent painters, including Edmund Tarbell, William Paxton and Frank Benson. Drinon is a latecomer to art, at least to committing himself to the work the way his mom and an older brother, Bob, had committed themselves to art. His mom painted watercolors, and his brother was a painter in the Old Port section of Portland, Maine, in the 1970s and 1980s. I always had an interest in (art), but I was more interested in learning about the business world I would sketch here and there but had no vision of being an artist, he said. Drinon, born in Bangor, Maine, one of nine children, graduated from Waltham High School in 1971 and studied at the Whittemore School of Business at the University of New Hampshire and traveled in his youth. He married and raised a family. Drinon spent more than 30 years in the financial investment field, creating portfolios for clients. Then, six years ago, he retired. It was earlier than he had expected, but the time was right to devote himself to art. His biggest fear was that he would grow old and regret not having pursued and developed his art. Drinon paints four to six days a week and always has a half-dozen paintings underway. From different locations. The work in different stages.
And at any time, he has 10 to 20 completed paintings hanging in shows or in locations. He studies under the artist Tom Dunlay, who lives in Westwood and Nantucket. Dunlay is the last of the Boston School of painting, Drinon said. He learned from painter Ives Gammell, who, in turn, had been taught by Tarbell and Paxton, who had studied in Paris under French masters in the 1800s. The Boston School is a blend of impressionist and old-school technical painting, Drinon said. It combines skilled traditional construction with personal impressions giving a work a vibrant evocative power. Drinon likes his paintings to tell stories, and he likes to tell stories about his paintings. In 2017, he was painting a scene in Gloucester at Rocky Neck, close to where Winslow Homer had once painted a scene. Drinon noticed a woman peering from the door in the house that was included in his painting. Her arms were folded, and she looked none too pleased with her house being part of Drinon s landscape. He approached her, going up onto her porch at the end of the day. She turned around and walked in the house. The second day, Drinon again approached her, and her response appeared to be headed in the same direction. But she got to talking. They talked for quite a while. The third day, she gave Drinon a bag of tomatoes and cucumbers from her garden. Drinon, in turn, later, gave her a framed print of his finished painting. You d have thought I had given her a million dollars, he said. These are the kinds of things that happen when you are painting. Artistic accomplishments In 2017, Dave Drinon was accepted into the Copley Society of Art in Boston. He was selected as artist in residence in 2015 and 2016 for the Whistler House Museum of Art. He is active with the Arts Institute of the Merrimack Valley, a local art group that meets monthly and holds an art show open to the public each October at the Nevins Library in Methuen.
He is a juried artist member of the North Shore Arts Association in Gloucester. The association was founded in 1922 and was the gathering place of great American artists of the 20th century, including Childe Hassam, Emile Gruppe, Frederick Mulhaupt and Winslow Homer.