Charles Bradley lives in Ayer, Massachusetts.    He has a small studio there where he draws and paints. Up until late 2014, he also worked in Cambridge and Belmont, MA as a custom picture framer.   As a painter, he is self-taught.   He worked for several years in his Harvard, Massachusetts studio paying particular attention to his gouache (pronounced "gwash") paintings with astronomical and / or spiritual themes.   Gouache is an opaque watercolor.   He enjoys working with it because he can accomplish many of the things he earlier learned in his (1976-1984) print making days.   He enjoys the use of stenciling in all of his gouache paintings, and appreciates the technical process of this tool since all of the hand brushwork creates the look of a fine serigraph.   His shows have included his original limited edition serigraphs as well.

While living in Connecticut in the early 80's, Mr. Bradley often would develop complex designs with intricate color schemes.   His abstract design elements, often geometric, still can be found in his celestial paintings today.   Charles still enjoys the incorporation of these quilt-like designs in his surreal paintings since they continue to make a statement about the balance and order (as well as the randomness) in the universe.   It is his hope that these symbols of "orderliness" can be appreciated against the backdrop of his colorful landscapes with star-filled night skies and crescent moons.

Charles has exhibited his earlier serigraphs at a gallery in Adams, Mass (Silvia's Gallery). He takes credit for a commissioned mural project for the Acton, MA Music Center (1987) which unfortunately was destroyed in 2006 during the construction of a condominium project to replace the music center.   He has also shown a number of times at the Concord Art Association's members shows, attaining a "distinguished artist" status there.

Since about 2006, Charles has been more interested in design, but still incorporates his black skies with starlight. The painting Structure and Chaos marked a change in style where his paintings became more technical and complex from a design standpoint. A shift to random and superimposed "scribbles" aided in complicating his designs such that "chaos" began to shine through his otherwise orderly shapes, and "structured" forms.

Charles has developed a line of notecards and matted prints for many of his paintings. Each is individually signed and titled. They can be purchased at reasonable prices by directly contacting him.

Two and one half years ago, in January of 2016, Charles made a noteworthy shift in style and medium. His new mandala and mandala-like technical pen drawings (and paintings) can be found at his New Home Page . He has incorporated PayPal purchasing capability for his (now) 30+ new works. This page was launched on January 2, 2017.

Recently, however, in June of 2018, Charles began to work on patterned designs which are similar to his past works done in gouach. They are abstract, colorful and quilt-like with a noteworthy precision, detail and composite symmetry.

Feel free to look over the accompanying list of Mr. Bradley's shows.

He welcomes your comments and can be easily reached if desired by email, telephone or regular mail