Portraits and People
In a way, I began as a portrait artist, learning the basics of pastel portraiture from a couple of successful women artists in my hometown. Twenty years later, I had a chance to reactivate those skills as a street artist in Old Montreal. I soon expanded my repertoire to oils and acrylics, and during the ‘80’s did a lot of figure painting in churches and elsewhere with our Portsmouth-based company, Mural Works.
By the end of the decade, though, I felt that the way I depicted people in my own work needed to change. It wasn’t enough for me to be proficient at rendering; I needed the figure and portrait to say more symbolically, psychologically. I began experimenting with narrative and allegory, and with new surfaces to work upon. For instance, I started the on-going “Mr. Slick” series, working over found Paint-By-Number paintings, poking fun at myself as a regional artist (see also Satire - Paintings). In short, my figurative work became more humorous, more personal; a trend that continues to this day. |