John Weiss

"I enjoy painting things that people can relate to," Weiss says. "perhaps because I can relate to them myself. They're familiar things, really, but they are a part of everyday life we can understand and enjoy."

Weiss was born and reared in Akron, Ohio, the son of a draftsman with whom he credits his disciplined approach to art. As a child, Weiss always had the ability to draw. He developed his innate skill through height school art classes. On a trip to Maine, he encountered an exhibition of work by Andrew Wyeth, an experience that further simulate his own desire to be an artist. He studied art at Kent State University, but left after two years to go into the landscape business.

The attractions of art had become too much a part of him by this time, however, and he returned to drawing and painting - on a casual basis at first, but with more time and intensity as four years passed. "My painting is basically self-taught," Weiss says. "I would study the work of artists I admired and learn from their methods and techniques. I studied color theory with a color wheel and by mixing paints. Then I started in drawing and painting; experience is the best teacher."

Hand-in-glove with experience goes perseverance. His dedication paid off, and in 1977, Weisss began painting full-time, primarily in oil Today a resident of northern Ohio, Weiss uses his art to support worthy causes in the areas, and shows his work in a number of regional galleries.