Buchheister Fine Art Studio : Raymond Buchheister : Biography

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Buchheister is primarily self taught. He became interested in art at a young age when he was acknowledged for his natural ability to draw. The paintings of the Old Masters, primarily those of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, and Caravaggio shown to him at school, but primarily through religious education, inspired and educated his youthful eye. After high school Buchheister entered the work force as a draftsman. His compositional skills and eye for detail have been honed over twenty-five years of work as a drafter, designer, and project manager. He is a co-inventor on three U.S. patents. In early 1990 he took up oil painting and from 1993 to 1995 studied privately with artist Gray Stephens in Pasadena, MD. In 1994 Buchheister traveled to Russia and visited the Hermitage Museum, viewed Russian icons first hand, and witnessed the renovation of the art and architecture of Orthodox churches being rebuilt after the fall of Communism. He diverted from oil painting and studied Iconography with Peter Pearson in Pittsburgh, PA from 1996 to 1998. Realizing that oil painting is his first love, particularly the style of representational art or realism, Buchheister returned to classical training from 1999 to 2000 as a student of Dennis Blalock in Thurmont, MD. To this day Blalock remains his mentor and friend. He continues to be inspired by the work of the Old Masters, particularly Dutch Masters Rembrandt and Vermeer. However, his work today is more influenced by painting masters Sargent, Sorolla, and Zorn, as well as living American masters Richard Schmidt, Jeremy Lipking, and Jacob Collins. Buchheister has read numerous books, visited many art museums, studios, and galleries in an effort to educate himself. His most recent study has been through workshops with Clayton Beck III and Robert Liberace.

Buchheister is a member of the Adams County Arts Council, Pennsylvania; the Salmagundi Club, New York City; Oil Painters of America; and the Portrait Society of America. He lives with his wife Jennifer and their four children in Fairfield, PA where he paints and teaches.