About the Artist
To Snatch the Passing Moment
Baumlin's childhood was one spent compulsively drawing animals, but always as a means of holding onto some powerful, ineffable beauty they possessed and impressed on his young mind. Not taking it more seriously than that, he initially never wanted to be an artist or thought of himself as one. But while studying architecture in college, he was partly paying his way through by accepting commissions, one of which was submitting ideas for a painting to be used as a symbol for the Sulman Falcon Centre in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Thus he attracted the attention of the Royal Family of Bahrain and a few of his paintings were sold to the Emir.
Spurred on by this encouragement, he left college and through his own trial and error method and studying the work of artists he admired, taught himself about values, composition and how to use color along with an obsessive practice of drawing. Being always a mindful observer, he found that this one skill enabled all other abilities related to producing art. This student mindset has stayed with him throughout his career, and he feels that excellence comes with iterative, ongoing and continuous practice.
His travels through the American West and Africa have provided him with a rich source of inspiration and material for his paintings, and most of his current work is the result of those experiences. He considers drawing and painting from life to be essential to understanding living forms. Together with photos taken for information, they become the basis for all his work, in which he aims for clarity and simplicity while retaining as much of the initial visual excitement as possible.
Baumlin has work in the collections of the National Park Foundation, Washington, D.C., the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, NJ and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI as well as numerous private collections. He is a signature member of the Society of Animal Artists.
"To snatch the passing moment and examine it for signs of eternity is the noblest of occupations." ~ Louis J. Halle, Jr.
