Phil Courtney is a graduate of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Phila, PA. Following his education, he was employed as a billboard artist for outdoor advertisers in the Philadelphia area for more than twenty-five years. Phil began showing his own work after moving to Cape May, NJ in 1995 with his wife and children. His work has been shown locally at the former Washington Street Gallery, the SOMA NewArt Gallery, the FAN Gallery in Phila., The Ferry Gallery at the former Ferry Park. His work is also part of several private collections in South Jersey.
Phil has also participated in the John Peto Museum International Juried Art Exhibitions. The Nature Center of Cape May featured Phil as their artist in residence for their annual fundraiser in 2019, “Catch of Cape May”. Phil’s painting in oil, “Magnolia Seed Pod” was featured in the 2021 July/August edition of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine in the article, “Blooms for Us All”. “Money Plant”, a watercolor by Phil, was selected for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society’s 121st Anniversary International Exhibition of Works on Paper, in 2021. His painting received the PWCS 121st Exhibition Award. Phil also participated as a Signature member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society in the PWS 122nd Anniversary International Exhibition of Works on Paper in 2022.
Phil has been teaching watercolor workshops for the past several years in the Cape May area and at the Rehoboth Art League. He paints a variety of subjects, indoors and out, using oils or watercolors. He is proficient in both mediums. Phil has developed techniques for capturing the unique atmospheric conditions of the seashore, and the play of sunlight and shadows cast by the intricate details of Cape May Victorian architecture. His oil paintings of flowers capture the very essence of their purity with the freshness of being just picked. They are luminescent and elegant, calling attention to the intricacies, textures, and the collaborating parts of the living whole.
Painting at the Cape May Harbor