digdougsart blog

So today I was watching the show color splash on HGTV. Its a home decorating show which focuses on the use of color to help re-decorate a home, kitchen, office,  or whatever. I am attracted to this show like a moth to light. Im guessing its because, I too like color. An artist I use to work for gave me the title of a colorist one day. Due to the fact that I use bright, bold colors with lots of contrast. I am not afraid to pair odd colors together or use paint straight out of the tube. Heck half the fun in painting is the color.  But being a colorist only descibes  part of how and what I paint. What do I paint you ask? Well its abstract with a focus on nature. The best way to describe it, is to imagine a dissection of the the sky, the earth and whatever the focus subject, or main object might be, say a tree for instance. So anyways if you were to cut those elements right down in half, you would then expose the energy that is inside the elements ie sky, tree, earth . That in essence is the common idea behind each painting.  Now back to Color Splash, I guess the other thing I noticed today is that inspiration comes from all sort of different places.  When I was younger I made it a point not to go to any galleries for a period of two years, nor did I pick up any magazines containing art. My whole idea was to isolate myself from others art so that I would not be influenced by their works. Did it work? Of course not we are exposed to images every day. Whether it be  something you see on TV, or a billboard, heck even a cereal box. Bottom line we store all those images in our brains and then those images can influence the outcome of every thing we do. Or at least for me, considering I let my subconscious be the guide on how I paint.

Which leads me to my last thought for the day. Many years ago I quit painting because I thought I did not have my own style. Since I have started painting again ( long story we will get into that later). I realized that all along I had my own style. Back then I painted South west art and today I paint abstarct art. My style is definately obvious. I will post some pics at some point so you can see for yourself.  So while I might have been lost for awhile, I have now found myself.

Here’s a little about me:

I am a self taught artist, with a love of color. My mom always used to  tell me that my art is a gift. It has taken me some 30 plus years to realize that  she is right. It is the one thing that brings me true happiness. A lot  of my ideas come from dreams. I find myself many a nights about to doze  off and then bam an image will appear in my head. No matter how tired I  might be I get up and at least draw out a sketch on paper. Sometimes  the image is engrained in my brain from every shape, to the exact color  palate. Other times it’s just a basic idea. From there I let my  subconscious be the guide to what color to use and where I paint my  next brush stroke. This is why I know now that my artistic talent is a  gift. A gift that I will not take lightly. A gift that I like to share  with others.