Dignity of Work Painting

ARTIST STATEMENT: I find myself reaching back to simpler times for artistic inspiration and ancestral curiosity. I began to collect vintage black and white photography, dating from the 1890's to the 1950's as inspiration for my paintings. To be part of my collection a photo needs to have a soulful appeal -compelling, yet, timeless in its depiction of life. It is important that the faces and candid moments frozen in time have a strong universal familiarity. No matter how interesting and different the clothes, hairstyles, architecture, apparent lifestyles, transportation and interior design appear -there must be this underlying familiarity. I often find color too enticing to the eye, overriding all my sensibilities. When color is eliminated great images and natural compositions jump out more easily. The black and whiteness of the photos frees me to consider the element of color separately. Although my collection only contains photographs of total strangers which rarely include any information concerning the subject matter, by the end of the painting process I feel as if I know this person or group of people intimately. Perhaps it is my sensitivity or intuition as an artist or maybe my many years as a teacher that helps reveal this understanding about the nameless subject. Perhaps the photo itself exudes something heartwarming. Whatever the reason, the photos and paintings inspired therefrom have become my treasures.