“My life has been dedicated to the pursuit of beauty. It is an exciting, never ending challenge with prismatic possibilities.” ~ Stuart Dunkel

Mouse in the house! Actually many mousies, thanks to Boston artist Stuart Dunkel. Recently, I was minding my own business browsing the internet when I heard a distinctive “squeak” and could sense the animated twitching of tiny whiskers.

Oho!! There he was, my new little friend, raising a single raspberry in glorious triumph:

I have been obsessed with him ever since.

Who is he, and how did he become Dunkel’s muse?

Art is actually Stuart Dunkel’s second career. Born in New Jersey (1952), he’s also a classically trained oboist (Juilliard School of Music) who’s performed with top orchestras in Boston, New York, and Hong Kong. After retiring from his three-decade musical career in 2002 at age 42, he transitioned to fine art.

Up until then, he’d been painting in his spare time and had started a small company to produce reeds for the oboe. Just as he had with music, he took a disciplined approach to his craft, receiving formal training (The Boston Museum School, The Academy of Realist Art, Seattle, WA, and private study with other realist painters).