Painting the Night

"What counts is not the number of hours you put in, but how much you put in the hours"

...Unknown Author

I love to paint the night. It seems to be a consistent recurring theme in my paintings. Although I tend to "jump around" from painting the human figure, fantasy themes, landscapes, flowers, birds, etc and even change up styles realism, surrealism, abstract... I still find there are certain themes, such as night scenes, that keep recurring in my paintings.

I know I say that as though I have no control over what I choose to paint and really most of the time I don't really feel as though I do. An idea forms in my imagination and suddenly I am scrambling to get it down on paper with sketches, notes, anything that will help me work through it. Sometimes that's the end of it. And sometimes it gets a hold on me that just won't let go. That's usually when I feel my best work is accomplished. Most of my artwork, both paintings, sculptures and dolls, have their own story. It plays like a mini movie in my head complete with its own soundtrack. But I rarely tell the story myself. Instead I prefer the viewer discover their own if any. Sometimes I wonder, does anyone ever see any of my art the same as I do? Probably not. It feels like magic while I am painting (or sculpting or making a doll) and actually I do feel it is a borrowed gift from The Creator. When an artwork is finished, I tend to be much more critical of my own work. I believe that to be because I know... if a viewer finds something good in my work it is from The Creator but all the mistakes, well they are purely mine. And I try to own my mistakes too. I always try to post at least most of my paintings on my website. Even if I decide I don't really like them that much. Well, at least for a little while. I even add in small paintings I do as studies but now I am thinking that since I have this blog, I will post them here instead.

I receive more requests for prints of the painting above than any other I have created. Although I am satisfied with the painting I don't really feel it is my best but it usually attracts the most interest for some reason. The photo isn't that great but I am working on that. I painted this paticular painting several years ago but I have never offered the original for sale before now. I hope to be able to offer prints of this painting online soon.