Why do I do this Art thing?

As a practicing architect & general contractor, my day job is all about functional design solutions. 'Design' needs a function and an end-user. 'Art' needs nothing but an Artist, or more accurately - the other way around.

Art is my playground, my sandbox, my own rules, and a field to run through like somebody left the gate open.

I had the opportunity to study art & design in school (SCAD '94, MArch). Still, after graduation, internship, licensing, starting my own firm, then helping other firms improve their practice… 30 years flew by.

Now I have Art as a hobby. I enjoy remembering the painters I always admired and reminiscing about the history behind their work.

So now I turn on a camera to talk about what Art I am wrestling and enjoy chatting with visitors to my studio. Come along for the ride. I have fun & make fun of my profession and my art.

I play with things that might fail at any moment, and I wrestle with paintings that like to hang around my studio and mock me. Fight back, I say. Art is a struggle, but it's a struggle worth the time and effort.

A little backstory...

I started painting in High School because of my favorite teacher, who said she could get me out of school for a few days. And it was spring. And I had a full-blown case of would-do-anything-to-get-out-of-class. What I found out later was she knew I needed a challenge. I had foundational Art down, drawing, sketching, but color, mixing pigment, brush & canvas- not so much. Amazing how as soon as you get cocky in Art it laughs at ‘your skills.’

I studied Art and Architecture at The Savannah College of Art & Design (M.Arch 1994). SCAD was a fantastic environment being thrown together with painters, sculptors, animators, architects, and designers. This was the first place I started to realize that EVERYONE is creative, but there is a difference between ART and DESIGN. I met my wife at SCAD, and early in our marriage, we would go on paint dates. She with her acrylics or oils, and me with my little Cottman watercolor set.

A little current story... after running my own architecture firm and other people for 30 years, I picked up my wife's acrylic paints and did a project for a friend (2 canvases). It felt like being awakened from a long sleep. I missed the color, mixing color, the feel of the canvas, and the challenge of composition and storytelling. I also started visiting museums and seeing midcentury modern paintings that I loved when I was in college.

A glimpse into what's next...

So here I am, going to share what I'm learning, what is intriguing, and what I am wrestling with in my paintings. I love that Art is a full-contact sport between your ears, not just what flows out of your hands. I will also sprinkle in a few sketches from the day job on design and architecture subjects.

I believe... Everyone is creative... Art and Design are different continents on the same planet but very different cultures, and I enjoy both. ART is a planet I get to create everything based on my own rules- then share it with the world. DESIGN is a tool to improve other people's life experiences. ARCHITECTURE is a dash of Art and a whole pile of thick slices of Design, with a bit of special sauce on the side. DESIGN THINKING is a pile of thick buttered pancakes that help me solve business problems.

Come by and check out what's in the sandbox of my mind - don't worry, I take people kicking sand and those that take pictures in the same - glad it moved you in some way.