20231116 Flowers Can’t Thrive in the Shadows Painting

My paintings are simple representations of my odd ideas, silly habits, fears and insecurities. I started painting at age 8. I took a 25 year hiatus to work in the animation industry. When I returned to portrait painting, I focused on portraying emotions and movement to bring the still image to life. Now I paint to air my laundry in public. My goal is to change the viewers state of mind - in the hopes the viewer learns something about themselves. My process is to choose an image with a compelling emotion. I identify the emotion and think of an event in my life when I felt similar. I feel that emotion while I paint that emotion. My animation career began at Disney, animating on Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules. Some of the other shows I have worked on include, Stuart Little, Spider-Man, Scooby-Doo, and King of the Hill. My last animation gig was as Supervising Director for Netflix on Bill Burr’s animated show “F is for Family”. When painting portraits, I paint my subjects looking out at the viewer, so the viewer can make eye-to-eye contact and develop a bond with the subject. I capture the subject between ideas, in that moment after they have finished speaking, when they are taking a breath just before expressing their next thought. I choose images with compelling emotions . I identify the emotion and think of an event in my life when I felt similarly. I feel that emotion while I paint that emotion. I endeavor to change the viewers state of mind - in the hope the viewer learns something new about themselves. I was painting this way when Russia invaded Ukraine and images of refugees flooded the media. I started painting their portraits. I set a goal for myself to paint 100 Ukrainian refugees. After I completed them, I felt compelled to raise funds for the victims of the invasion. I painted sad children who had experienced things no child should have to live through. Many of them had that thousand mile stair people get when the events swirling around them exhaust their minds. Holding these emotions while I painted them weighed heavy on me. I became too angry and depressed. I had to mix in happier children to lighten my mood. Kids are resilient, their world pushes them down, then they see another child and brighten. They play and run about laughing. These happy children are the hope for Ukraine's future.