More Painting

Painting is one of my favorite mediums. I'm not sure why I like it more than others. Guess it could be because I'm good at it. I'm really good at looking at something and making it look almost exact with paint. I look really, really closely at the colors and how they change, and then put it on canvas.

This painting is a flower from my sister's wedding a couple of years ago. It took me a year to take the time to do the painting (2011). I got it done in about 9 hours. Monotone paintings are a lot easier than full colored ones. I did a series of flowers for awhile. I like them, but really I just did it so that I could have a series of paintings.

This lily painting is the only painting that I've ever done for myself (2006). I wanted to have a black and white room in my apartment and I wanted to paint a lily on one wall. Then I realized that I wouldn't be able to take it when I left if I did that. So I put it on a big canvas instead. A few of my friends saw it and wanted to buy it from me but I wouldn't let them. Then one day I needed money really badly so I called them up to see if they still wanted it. They did. Now it lives in Cincinnati but I recently got a tattoo of it on my shoulder so it is with me always now.

This rusty car painting was my second painting in college (2003) and is what I consider my personal best. I worked on this one for about one month. The night before it was due, my entire class stayed up all night working in the studio. We brought in coffee and snack and even movies for when we needed a break. It was a fun time to hangout with everyone.

Most of my work is very realistic looking. I like the challenge of making a painting look like something real. I like looking at an image and focusing on the colors and seeing how they change as the form of what I'm painting changes.

I learned a lot from my painting teacher in college. Whenever I thought I was done he would always tell me to work for ten more hours... and those ten hours were when I really had to look closer and see what was missing. What could be improved? It was the most essential part of it all. Michelangelo did not paint the Sistine Chapel in a day. All good things take time.