Al Dornisch – 2D Best in Show
Ridgway resident and a 16-year participant of the Art in the Wilds, Al Dornisch, won his second 2D Best in Show.
“I paint animals and critters. I am a wildlife artist. That’s what I do,” Dornisch said on Saturday with a smile. “I’ve been doing this all my life,” Dornisch said.
“I am a Powdered Metallurgist (material scientist). Painting is something that I have always done. I have been chasing animals in the Arctic, Africa, and all over the world to study them so I can paint them better. That was in my younger years. I’m 90 years old. I paint anywhere from 8 to 10 hours 7 days a week.
“It doesn’t make any difference as to whatever subject I paint, something somebody would like or I would like. I paint anything from worms to whales and everything in between. I really do! Mostly here (at the show) is American animals. But depending upon where I am showing, I bring paints for the people in the audience. So, if I am doing a show on the east coast where they do deep water fishing, I paint saltwater fish.”
Dornisch explained that he is a studio painter. “Because of the detailed work that I do, I can’t paint a painting in one day. If I am painting a particular species I probably have fifteen or twenty photographs of that particular species in front of me that I use to compose the picture. Also, because my work has to be accurate, trying to do something from memory you can’t paint the accuracy.”
Dornisch stated that he has a natural history library that he has accumulated for many years and to “learn more about the critters”.
Mentioning his wife, Carol, Dornisch laughed and said, “She’s my boss! When I finish a painting, she comes in with the next panel and sets it in front of me, and tells me what subject I am painting. I don’t have to worry because someone else is deciding that for me. It works this way so there is no sense changing.”