Welcome to the “Art of Diplomacy.”  I am a retired ambassador who has served in ambassadorial positions in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Washington, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, with over 40 years in the diplomatic service.  I took up painting in 1998 while serving as a Special Envoy in the Middle East, am self-taught, and have exhibited my work both in the U.S. and abroad.  "Art of Diplomacy" seemed an apt title since a good diplomat is an acute observer of people, things, moods, and surroundings and since painting into the wee hours after a long day of diplomatic work has been a relaxing, creative outlet.  As a quick look at my website will reveal, I promiscuously wander from still-lifes, to landscapes, to animal life, to portraits, to abstracts, and from detailed brush work to deliberately cruder palette knife work.  And I take inspiration from personal travels and observation, magazine advertisements, newspaper photos, gallery hopping, as well as my own imagination and fondness for color and shapes.

Often there’s a story, or thought, or a bit of humor behind the painting.  “Feelin' Groovy”, for example, is an abstracted view of the 59th Street Bridge in Manhattan (subject of Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 hit song) from my office window at the US Mission to the United Nations.  “Embracing Pears” is about two objects that are joined together while retaining their individual identities, defined not by lines but by shadings of color—a painting I have sometimes given as a wedding present symbolizing an ideal union.  “Field of Dreams” was from a New York Times photo of Syrian refugees traversing a field in Greece en route to a better, safer life—minus the refugees whose absence underscores their transient presence.  “Not Eight Million”, with some different shapes and colors, was inspired by a painting at an auction preview that sold a week later for $8 million!  “Sac à Main” is an abstracted version of a Givenchy handbag advertisement – a women walking down the middle of a city street at night illumined in conical light.  And “Windswept,” inspired by a photo in a travel magazine, for me encapsulates the qualities of rugged – and ragged – fortitude in the face of life’s storms.

But take a look yourself,  intuit your own stories, or just enjoy (or critique) one man’s efforts at art.   If you'd like to be in touch, please see the information on the connect page.