portraitart

Baltimore Portraits Portrait Artist Baltimore Maryland Portrait Painting

Baltimore Portrait Paintings Baltimore Maryland portrait painting from photo of Lincoln

JERRY BREEN newbreen@comcast.net 410-683-1562

Portrait Artist / Portrait Painting from Photo / Pet Portraits

Jerry Breen is an internationally acclaimed portrait artist. His work has appeared in leading publications in England and Germany, such as The Times of London's Higher Education Magazine. His portrait clients include corporations (Microsoft), institutions (St. John's University and Manhattan College in New York, and the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, which has several hundreds of Jerry's portraits, drawings, designs and architectural renderings) and private individuals (former Maryland Governor Robert N. Ehrlich Jr.). The largest collection of Breen's paintings is a collection of over 175 paintings of historical figures at Gerstell Academy in Carroll County, Maryland - possibly the largest collection of portrait paintings by one artist in one place in the world. JERRY CAN PAINT A PORTRAIT FOR YOU! See information below. Call 410-683-1562 or newbreen@comcast.net .

portrait painting from photo by Jerry Breen

A Custom Portrait Painting from Your Photo!

Jerry can paint an original portrait painting from your photograph ! Prices start at $500, and vary according to the size of the painting and the number of people in the painting. Serious inquiries only, please. Call for information - 410-683-1562 or email newbreen@comcast.net for more information. Jerry exclusively uses archivally permanent, non-toxic, non-flammable water-based acrylic paints. Your portrait painting will never discolor, fade, darken flake or deteriorate like an oil painting.

Advice to artists: The materials used in traditional oil painting are unstable, toxic and highly flammable. Turpentine is especially toxic, causing brain damage, nerve damage and depression. Ever wonder why so many famous artists - Van Gogh, Rothko, N.C. Wyeth, etc. - committed suicide?

Portrait Paintings Baltimore, Maryland newbreen@comcast.net 410-683-1562

Obama Portrait Gallery " The Many Faces of Obama"

Besides the many political cartoons of Obama that Jerry has done in the last couple of years, (Click here to go to Jerry's Political Cartoon Blog) Jerry has portrayed him in a wide variety of media and genres. The most unusual is perhaps his new calligraphy portrait (left), part of a series that Breen has done over the years. Others in the series are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Abraham Lincoln. Obama's own words, from his eloquent keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, rendered by hand in calligraphy, form his image. Prints are available. An absolutely unique work of art, and a great gift idea! The more conventional acrylic painting of President Obama in the Oval Office (center) is a new addition to Jerry's enormous portrait gallery (179 paintings) at Gerstell Academy in Carroll County, Maryland. (Probably the largest collection of portrait paintings by one artist in one place in the world.) The color pencil caricature (right) is a logo design used on packages of Obama . . . well, air. Some enterprising folks out in Oregon surreptitiously gathered Obama's exhaled breath at his campaign stops in the Pacific Northwest and packaged it in air-tight bags for mass consumption! ORDERING INFO: For an 11 by 14 inch print of the unique calligraphy portrait of Obama on fine parchment, suitable for framing, send a check or money order for just $10 to: Jerry Breen, 816A Cinnamon Ridge Place, Cockeysville, MD 21030-4316. Each additional print just $5 each!

Portrait Artist Baltimore, Maryland newbreen@comcast.net 410-683-1562

Portraits for the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Baltimore

Over the past 2 decades, Jerry Breen has created hundreds of portrait drawings, paintings, exhibit designs and architectural designs for Baltimore's world-famous National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. Left: Mahalia Jackson. Center: Shaka Zulu. Right: Nelson Mandela. The large portrait of Shaka Zulu occupies a prominent position in the Museum's Alberta Cason Room. Unlike other "portraits" of Shaka Zulu, Jerry based his painting on the only known drawing of Shaka Zulu, which was done in 1824, at the height of Shaka's power, 4 years before his assassination. This is, therefore, the most accurate color likeness of Shaka Zulu in existence. Shaka is depicted holding his innovative "iklwa" short spear and a large Zulu shield. The background is a view of the South African Transvaal. All portraits in this section (c) 2009 The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum.

Baltimore Maryland portrait drawing James Baldwin portrait

Baltimore portrait Maryland Haile Selassie portrait

Martin Delany portrait James Baldwin portrait Haile Selassie portrait

Paul Robeson portrait Baltimore Maryland portrait drawing

Eubie Blake portrait Baltimore Maryland portrait drawing

Billie Holiday portrait Baltimore Maryland portrait drawing

Paul Robeson portrait Eubie Blake portrait Billie Holiday portrait

Portraits Jerry Breen newbreen@comcast.net 410-683-1562

Edgar Allan Poe portrait Paul Laurence Dunbar portrait Emily Dickinson portrait

Charles Baudelaire portrait Baltimore Maryland artist Jerry Breen

T.S. Eliot portrait Baltimore Maryland artist Jerry Breen

Maya Angelou portrait Baltimore Maryland artist Jerry Breen

Ezra Pound portrait Baltimore Maryland artist jerry Breen

Baltimore Maryland Portrait Artist Jerry Breen

Baltimore Maryland Portraits newbreen@comcast.net 4109-683-1562

World's Largest Portrait Gallery by One Artist - Gerstell Academy

Probably the most portrait paintings by one artist in one place in the world - 179 paintings! Location - Gerstell Academy, Carroll County, Maryland (All Gerstell Academy Portraits (c) Fred Smith & Jerry Breen)

In the year 2000, I was hired by Dr. Frederick G. Smith to paint an architectural rendering, from the architect's blueprints, of a private school he was building in Finksburg in Carroll County, Maryland. Gerstell Academy, a non-denominational school, would have a curriculum grounded in ethics as well as academics. "Leadership, Honor & Courage" would be its guiding principles.

To provide role models for the students, Dr. Smith decided to commission me to paint portraits of leaders from history, to hang in the corridors of the school. Each portrait would be matted and framed with a brief list of each leaders's achievements. Dr. Smith envisioned a gallery of about 20 portraits in all. I was promised a position as an art teacher when the school opened its doors. I agreed to paint the pictures, write the capsule biographies and mat them, for a very modest price.

Well, things changed as time went on, in a couple of ways. The school opened its doors in 2002. As for the teaching position, Dr. Smith explained that since they only had kindergarten and first grade at that point, they had no need for an art teacher. As years went by, more grades were added. First one art teacher, and then a second one were hired. Dr. Smith explained that, as the founder and President of the school, he had no say in hiring the teachers. (Really?) More recently, he has maintained that he never made any such job offer, that I must have imagined it, and that he never would have offered such a position to someone as "unqualified" as me. After over 40 years as a working artist, I have created artwork in every artistic medium. My work has been published internationally and in all communications media. I think that makes me qualified to teach art. (I'm not the only one who heard him make the job offer. But I guess it must be what the French call a "folie a deux" - a shared delusion.) Needless to say, this marked the end of my working relationship with Dr. Smith.

On the other hand, the Gerstell Gallery of Heroes had grown with the school, to 179 portraits by 2009. As far as I can determine, it is probably the largest collection of portrait paintings by one artist in one place in the entire world. - Jerry Breen

A Small Sample of the Gerstell Academy Gallery of Heroes - World's Largest Portrait Gallery by One Artist