John Schieffer

Art has been a part of John Schieffer’s life as far back as he can remember. “I believe I inherited my artistic ability from my great grandmother on my mother’s side,” he says. “Both were talented realistic painters with one of them giving lessons.” At nine years old, John started drawing with 2H pencils. “Sometimes I would add color with crayons,” he says. Raised on Long Island, in the suburbs of New York City, John would spend his summers at his family’s vacation home in western New York, on the shores of Lake Ontario. “Joe Whalen owned one of the neighboring cottages. He was a well known artist and art teacher in the area,” says John. “In addition to his creativity, Joe had a strong influence on my personal life. I observed him as the good family man I wished to be someday.” John’s creative world really began taking shape at the age of 14. “That is when I received my first acrylic paint set,” he says. “I began using it to paint different people and places from around my Long Island neighborhood as well as those close to my summer home.” John would continue to paint in acrylics, watercolors, and oils throughout high school and into his college years. “I received my degree in Advertising Art and Design,” he says. When John first graduated college, he got a job retouching photos used for advertisements. “This was before digital photography,” he says. “It required painting on photographs to give the same effects that ‘Photoshop’ does today.” This is where John says he mastered brush control and paint mixing to match colors. “When photography finally went digital, I began doing illustrations for advertising agencies and the art departments for companies like Rooms To Go, Leviton Electrical Supplies, Four Seasons Sunrooms and Windows, and others,” he says. While John is a realistic painter, he elaborates, “I’m always adding and removing things, adjusting detail, lighting, color and shadows, and giving finished paintings a different feel from the reference photos I use.” In his career, John has drawn inspiration from the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Andrew Wyeth, and Edward Hopper. “Hopper most of all,” says John. “He had an advertising background, similar to mine, before focusing on fine art. His subject matter was similar as well.” Though John has painted his entire life, he just began focusing on fine art in 2023. After moving to Florida only a year earlier, he began looking for galleries to show his work. “The St. Augustine galleries and their owners seemed to be a good fit. High Tide Gallery was the first gallery interested in showing my paintings,” he says. “Sherri, Kerry, Shayla, and everyone else there are so easy to work with. They do a wonderful job promoting the artists.” While most of his current work focuses on Florida landscapes and scenery, John plans to branch out in his near future. “I would like to do some impressionist paintings, pen and color wash, and some watercolors,” he says. “It’s all pretty new for me, but I’m excited to see where my art takes me.”