Friday, December 2, 2011

Artist's Statement

I have been working on my artist's statement over the past week or so. It took a lot or writing and rewriting on my iPad to finish it.

They say an artist's statement should be two to three paragraphs long and about 100 words. Mine is three paragraphs long and about 150 words, which is a bit long. That is about as short as I could make it and still say what I wanted to say, though.

This is what I came up with:
Some have described me as worldly; I enjoy international cuisine, fine wine, and world travel. All that would be meaningless, however, if I could not put it on canvas. I guess then that I am a worldly painter.

Many of my paintings show scenes in the kitchen, the most important room in the house, a meeting place for friends and family. Others relive the travel adventures my wife and I have taken to intriguing places. Through it all, I try to use the classic techniques of the old masters but with modern pigments and mediums.

Painting time is a peaceful time, a time of deep concentration. It is alone time. It is a time spent between me and the canvas. Each painting I do is like a journey to a city that I've never been to before. No matter how much I prepare, I do not know what it will be like until I get there.