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Edward Gordon Biography

Edward Gordon was born in Ocean City, New Jersey in 1940 and received a BA from Rutgers University. Edward’s paintings achieve complete and painstaking precision in his renderings of textures, colors, and forms. Like photography, he deliberately softens the strong contrasts of the picture without blurring the forms. He mellows the outline drawing with such perfection that it becomes impossible to detect his under drawings. He is a consummate draftsman with a keen eye for depicting his subject matter. His solitude evokes all of one’s senses: the smell and sounds of the ocean with doors and windows opening to never-ending opportunities. As Edward says, “My goal is to make paintings so realistic, that the viewers are drawn into the imagery space and share in the peaceful feeling that I try and incorporate into each work. I relish the subtleties of light reflection combined with architectural details that falls somewhere between realism and surrealism. There is something mystical yet serene in the quiet light found in interior spaces presented in harmony with the luminescent effect in the sky.“

Edward creates a quiet beauty of a simple scene with fresh eyes giving the viewer an idea of what he felt as he watched the light flooding through the window and the shadows and colors cast by objects.

Because of the precision and incredible detail in each of Edward’s paintings, he is able to produce only 4 to 6 images per year. Gordon uses a painting roller to apply four or five coats of acrylic gesso to the rough side of a piece of 1/4” standard Georgia-Pacific hardboard. He sands the surface with 60 or 80 grit sandpaper, and then applies two or three coats of gesso with a wide trowel.

He sands again with coarse sandpaper or a sanding screen and finishes with 400 grit paper for a surface that is eggshell-smooth. Preferring to paint on a surface that’s not glaring white, he coats the surface two or three times with thinned gray alkyd paint, and sands with 600 grit paper after each coat. He transfers his drawings to the panel using graphite paper and a ballpoint pen.

To achieve the light glow in his work, Gordon builds up his paintings in thin, translucent layers, using a bit of Liquin to make the paint more workable. Between coats he sands lightly with 600 grit paper.

To help achieve a glass-like finish, Gordon uses Golden brand MSA (Mineral Spirit Soluble Acrylic) varnish as a final varnish. This varnish contains ultraviolet light filters and stabilizers. The satin MSA varnish is too dull and a little to thick for his needs, so he dilutes it by mixing roughly three parts MSA with three parts Winsor & Newton gloss varnish and one part mineral spirits. He brushes on a coat to varnish with a fine 2” varnish brush and, when dry, repeats with one or two more coats. He sands very lightly between coats with 600 grit paper, seeking a smooth, bright finish that is not high gloss.

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