14,965 days ago my mortal coil entered this world. What a long, strange ride it has been! As the years go on, I take my birthdays in stride. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t ponder things like: How far I have come? What does the future hold? And last but not least, what kind of cake do I want?!
As the years go on, I take my birthdays in stride.
As I focus more on portraiture in my paintings, I want to take a moment to share with you a piece from the past. “Heather” is a painting from a series I did way back in 2007-08. Most of them have been sold to collectors now, but there are still a handful around that find new homes every few months. It touches my heart when I sell one of these portraits. It hit me the other day when I sold two of them to a new collector in New York. The series consists of 50 portraits – all painted in a loose, heavy-handed style. Each portrait was painted from my stream-of-consciousness without any reference. At the time I was living alone with my three dogs and two cats out in a rural area surrounding Athens, GA. I had just moved to town, working a day-job, single, and didn’t have many acquaintances at the time. So I decided to paint some “friends”. Artistically I was exploring texture, color, and expression. Little did I know that almost a decade later I would be taking this approach to a new level with my current series, “Primal/Dreams”.
Upon my annual reflection, I look back at where I was when I painted those 50 faces. My wants, my needs, my passions at that time. Now, 10 years later, as a husband, homeowner, and full-time artist I think of those days fondly.
How far I have come, indeed. The future is what you make it. I want yellow cake with chocolate icing, please.
