Howard Behrens (1933-2014) American, Palette Knife Study Mixed Media on Canvas. Still life with vibrant red flowers in a vase. Unique original work in impasto oils on canvas with the palette knife used to make the painting embedded into the work itself along the bottom. Signed beneath the knife. A one-of-a-kind piece. 

Overall Size: 33 x  29 in. 

Sight Size: 19 1/4 x 15 1/2 in. 

Howard Chesner Behrens was born on August 20th, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up near Washington, D.C. He began drawing at age seventeen after being confined to bed following a sledding accident. His formal education in art was at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he earned a bachelors and master’s degree in painting and sculpture. Behrens was hired by the United States Government Printing Office, where his father was employed as a printer, and worked there for the next seventeen years. In his retirement he focused again on painting, becoming a very popular artist as his works were sold in fine art galleries, at auctions, on cruise ships, and in several major retail and wholesale outlets. He developed a style of using a palette knife to paint on canvas, sometimes making incredibly thick and heavy works that used post-Impressionist techniques to combine his interests in travel, photography, and color theory. After Behrens’ second marriage he resided in Potomac, Maryland, where he died on April 14th, 2014 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.