Artist Appreciation Month

I was reminded by Patience Brewster that August is Artist Appreciation month. Patience is an artist herself and designs holiday ornaments and figurines. They invited me to write about artists/painters that have or are inspiring me. Naturally I accepted.

I started out drawing and painting without a drive, without any ambition. I never did something new, I didn't push myself and I didn't grow as an artist. It also meant that there was nothing to drive me forward. I painted a few paintings and then nothing. It could mean that I didn't do anything for years.

At a point I realized that I was stuck, I was repeating myself. I also felt that there were too much focus on skill/technique and too little on expression. There were artist that I always felt connected to, Like Vincent Van Gogh. I love his combination of bold brush strokes and strong colors.

Through Internet I found new artists that inspire me and have made impact on my art. They way I paint, the direction I want to go.

I don't want to be a copy cat, I learn from what I see and make it my own.

A few artists that has influenced my work are (in no particular order):

Carol Marine (Love her brush strokes and her ability to simplify, keeping it clean and graphic).

Robert Joyner (His roughness, almost abstract approach is amazing. He brings order to chaos (if you know what I mean).

Steve Penley (I espcially like his landscape paintings, but also his portraits. Love his bold colors and brush strokes.)

Andrew Salgado (I get inspired by the way he combine areas that has bold brush stokes and textures with other areas that are calm. He does super large abstract portraits.)

I have grown a lot and I hope that I won't stop doing that. I am on a journey, a fun one.

 This is where I am today.

This is me in 2009 (a painting called "Above")

I am not saying that my art sucked back then, I did some great paintings, but they didn't inspire me to keep painting. My art today drives me forward, inspire me to continue and other artists inspire me to push myself outside my comfort zone.