Howard Friedland is a graduate of the high school of Music and Art and Cooper Union in New York. He was born in Bronx, New York in 1945. At about five years of age, he started to draw with his older brother's art materials. In junior high school, his brother bought him a set of oil paints of his own. He also gave him some books with pictures of paintings by Cezanne, Monet, Modigliani, and Degas. Copying these Impressionist masters was his first experience painting in oils. Howard and a fellow student took the subway with their sketchpads and pencils to the Museum of Natural History every weekend to draw the taxidermy animals in the dioramas of the African veldt. He later studied painting and commercial art at New York's high school of Music and Art where he also began playing the drums in rock and jazz bands (he played professionally for the next twenty years). After graduating high school Howard applied and was accepted to attend The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in the Department of Art and Architecture in New York's Greenwich Village where he majored in graphic design. After college Friedland worked at Madison Avenue ad agencies as an art director and made ads and commercials for clients such as General Electric. In 1972 Howard moved to Miami Florida where he rekindled his love for painting. Taking night classes with local artists Friedland quickly caught the painting bug and began to produce still life and figure oil paintings. By the late 1970s, the dream of someday being able to paint full time for his living began to become more of a reality. In 1982 Howard moved to New Mexico to "stake his claim" in the Santa Fe art market. Albuquerque had a more welcoming job market however, so he decided to move there and he got a position at an ad agency thus giving him more security while he began to build his fine art career. For the next 14 years, he showed and sold his work at fine galleries in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. In 1995 Howard moved to Taos New Mexico where he continued painting the magnificent Taos landscape and showing in top galleries. It was in Taos in 1997 that he met artist Susan Blackwood from Bozeman Montana. The two sensed immediately that they were kindred spirits and fell in love; Susan and Howard were married and resided in Bozeman, Montana. In 2019, Howard and Susan moved to Bella Vista, Arkansas where they presently now reside.
Howard has a teaching DVD “Painting the Landscape Loosely but Accurately” released from Bella Muse Productions and a brand new teaching video “Painting Waterfalls in Oil” produced by Streamline’s PaintTube Productions.
Please Note: All painting images on this website are copyrighted. Any reproduction is prohibited without the express permission of the artist.
