Photo: Tina and Gerry
Lake Placid, Adirondacks, 1980’s
Gerry on the Adirondack railroad
Watercolor
Watercolors suspend pigment in water with a sticky binder, usually gum arabic which helps the
pigment adhere to the surface of the paper when dry. Watercolor is usually painted on paper.
The fibers of the paper help to hold the suspended pigments in place. Watercolor is
transparent, but there is no white transparent pigment; any white area in a watercolor is simply
unpainted paper.
Mixed Media
When a work is “mixed media,” an artist
uses more than one medium in a piece of
art. For example, a work on canvas that
combines paint, ink, and collage could
properly be called a "mixed media" work, or
it could mean something as simple as
mixing pencil and watercolor, Leonardo da
Vinci mixed pastels with other drawing
media.
E-Mail
Gerard Radke
Gerry served with the United States
Air Force in the Far East and Europe.
After military service he joined the
police department working as a forensic artist,
patrol and administration. He received a BA in
Criminal Justice from Alvernia University in
1976. Gerry retired as Chief of Police from the
Department in 2006 and is currently working
as a full time artist.
“My overall style is Contemporary
Impressionism. Contemporary Impressionism
is a very broad category, which basically
includes, any work or body of work done in a
realistic or representational style. Works need
not portray every blade of grass to capture the
spirit of the subject. What you leave out can
be just as important as what you put in.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST