Kevin’s Painting Blog

About me, at least as far as it relates to art. When I was young, I would draw occasionally. That said, my younger brother was the more naturally gifted when it came to drawing. I once drew our family cat in pencil and everyone was impressed, including myself. It was the first thing I ever drew that turned out halfway decent. In high school, I took art (the only class I managed to pull a “B” in) and once turned out a surprisingly good painting of a girl ice skating which I had copied from a poster. I can still remember the surprised look on the teacher’s face. Not that this in any way could compare with the other kid’s pen and ink drawings which would eventually win him a Hallmark scholarship (and which he would later waste on marijuana.) At the time, art was not something I contemplated seriously. No one had encouraged me in it, and I had no idea it was something I would could actually do. I just assumed those first drawings turned out simply based on “luck.”

When I was just 18 years old, I joined the United States Navy. This took an extremely naive young guy who had never been anywhere and dropped him into places like Paris, Italy, etc. Yeah, I thought those masterpieces in the Louvre were really “neat” and all, but I was still more interested in the crazy American girl I met there at the time. I remember seeing Michaelangelo’s “Pieta” in Italy once and thinking to myself, “you know, this guy is pretty good!”

It’s interesting how “exposure” to these places and things can effect you without your even realizing it.

During the first Gulf war, I was a radio officer in the US merchant marine aboard the SS Green Harbour, a merchant ship carrying bombs and tanks to Saudi Arabia which would frequently stop in Livorno, Italy. While the ship loaded munitions at the dock in Livorno, I had literally weeks of free time to myself and would spent a lot of my time hanging out in Rome and Florence. This gave me more exposure to great art, and being a bit older, I appreciated it more.

I didn’t really start drawing again until the age of 35 or so, when I would spend months at sea. Before departing on one voyage, I picked up a copy of the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, a sketch pad, some pencils, erasers, etc, and read and did the exercises in the book from cover to cover. By the time I had finished the voyage, I was able to draw anything I could see. This new found ability struck a major chord. From there I pretty much learned to paint on my own from books, but I did take classes at the “Scottsdale Artists School” with a number of prominent instructors. I also took life drawing classes at Mesa Community College from Jim Garrison, a very strict but well respected teacher. I watched videos, I read books - I was seriously addicted. Not long afterwards, I had the extreme fortunate to be introduced to “Cotti“, a seriously gifted guy who has painted some of the most famous people around, and studied under him for about 7-8 months. Cotti was pretty much the last “teacher” I have had, everything else I have pretty much picked up on my own.

A few things about the way I work. I do usually take photos, but I try not to use them unless I absolutely have to. Of course there are those times when one can’t get around it but I try to avoid referring to photos at all costs. About the only time I will refer to a photo is either at the very end of a work for reference purposes, or for one of those occasions where I really want to paint a scene but am not able to be on location.  In that case, at the very least the photo has to be one that I took. I do not believe in using photo’s as a replacement for drawing well and I can almost always recognize when another artist’s work was copied from a photo. This is just my own personal standard, of course. For various reasons, I make an effort to try not be influenced by other artists unless they are either a master or someone I respect highly. The masters that I like and respect the most would include Vermeer, Michaelangelo, Van Gogh, Manet, Lautrec, Degas, and Edward Hopper - among others.

I’ve been “out of it” for about the last 3-4 years, only occasionally producing something. I’m back now….