"Sssup?" Painting

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I live in Long Beach California, and am predominantly a painter, creating fine art on canvas. I enjoy sculpting as well and incorporate this skill into my paintings whenever possible.

I refer to these types of artworks as "dimensional" due to the use of mixed media and sculptural techniques.

Probably due to the influence of my artist mother, I developed a love for art at a very early age. I remember scribbling creatively at a mere two years old. While my skills have improved somewhat since those early days, my desire to capture images on paper and canvas has never changed. My mother was an oil painter principally and looking back, I remember absolutely hating the smell of turpentine and oil paints which is why I doesn't use that medium. Besides being smelly and messy, oil paints don't dry fast enough to suit my mercurial interests.

When I discovered acrylic paints, that was heaven. Fast, easy, water-based and colors as bright and sparkling as what I was feeling were a delight to use.

Once, when asked how long it took to create an average work of art, I replied without hesitation "One day."

The look on the prospective patron's face was quite a bit mixed as he tried to process this. He looked closer at the painting in front of him as though its brush strokes would reveal the magic behind my statement.

"Of course," I slowly pointed out, "I 'painted' the picture in my head over a period of several months refining details and correcting certain elements until I had a very clear idea as to what was going to happen when my brush finally made contact with the surface of the canvas. And it took over 50 years to be able to do just that."

The viewer nodded slowly and walked away with no real clue as to what I referred to, but was satisfied that he had been allowed to share something utterly mysterious to him.

Actually it was at that moment that I realized that I was probably doing what many artists do automatically, and don't even think about.

When I decide to create a painting, I draw from many sources, not the least of which are images for reference and then an interesting process develops which is both physical, mental and spiritual.

While earning a living at a young age, I determined that I would have a tough time making it successfully as a fine artist, so developed my skills and interests as a graphic designer.