Clements Gallery | Artist's Statement

My Work as an Artist

I was born in Walla Walla, Washington on August 16th 1953 and spent all my years there until I was 18. At This point, travel came into the picture with a two and a half month trip to Europe. This was the galvanizing experience that awakened the desire to paint as a lifetime endeavor. This Trip was a homecoming and introduction into the world of culture. The history and beauty of Europe sparked my creative imagination and began the serious pursuit of painting.

Training as a serious artist began at 20 years old. After working at a factory job for a while , a decision to get serious and see what I was capable of as an artist had arrived . The first creative works, were drawings in pastel taken from photographs that interested me. These early works turned out to be easy compared to the later works that would require much more imagination and effort. Coming to realize that the truly valuable aspects of Art could only be found deep below the surface, began my search to paint from the source rather than mere images.

The only formal training I acquired turned out to be quite inadequate. Realizing after a college course on painting that it might be impossible to find instruction of the kind needed, my search for instruction changed. To learn from the best by studying the great artists throughout history by way of art books, was my new form of instruction. This posed a dilemma because it was hard to decipher how the paint was actually applied. This left the challenge of creating technique according to an inner vision rather than duplicating it. The study of the great artists was more a study of their perspective than of how they applied paint. This was a difficult road to travel, to invent a way rather than to follow a given format. Although I gain much from the history of art, my work is now guided more by an inner compass rather than an external vision.

My work varies greatly because I am most interested in experiencing some new place and learning as much about art as possible. Many areas of interest are the inspiration for the paintings. I may repeat themes or a way of painting, but only for a season until led in a new direction. This is what art is to me, a world of diversity, richness and adventure. People are multi faceted beings so why should our art reflect anything less than the complexity that is inherent in each individual.