Artist Registry

As a person who takes the road less traveled, every painting is an experiment, an exercise in visual problem solving. My goal is to create a harmonious composition of variation, texture, movement, light and dark, repetition and balance; similar to a musical composition.

I walked with a friend in the North Cascades in Washington, and I tugged on his arm. “Don’t you see the way the light looks like someone dunked that mountain into an aquarium?” I said. “Don’t you see we’re lucky?” But I feel that way when I notice twigs on the sidewalk or sunlight on a doorknob. So I took photos and I wrote a little bit about people I met. I worked and traveled, and I didn’t try very hard to publish or sell what I did. Then I hit my head on an icy hill in Washington, and I decided I better start trying.

My gallery shows usually consist of Springfield cityscapes, and regional landscapes which have great local appeal. I also work directly with designers and clients for the just the right look and size for their offices and homes, which may include vacation spots, individual homes, pets, portraits and various degrees of abstracts, color field and non-objective works.

It is my intention to create enjoyable art. I want the viewer to feel drawn into my work through it's color, subject matter or simply by arousing curiosity that asks to be satisfied. The process of creating a painting gives me great joy. Once the subject is chosen, I delve into the matter, losing all sense of time and place. If the time at hand is limited, I set an alarm to wake and bring me back to the here and now. I appreciate my fellow artists and enjoy taking their classes — there is always something new to be discovered.

I am currently working on a show for September 2012 First Friday Art Walk at the OTC Art Department in the Gillioz Theatre Building. The show title is "Taking Flight". Creating colored pencil drawings is a slow and intentional process which lends itself to very tight and controlled representational artwork. In working on the drawings for Taking Flight, I have tried to push my boundaries with the medium and break out of that "pigeon hole". The result is a series of looser drawings that I cut out and rearranged, giving them a very sculptural quality.

Writing an “artist’s statement” is difficult...it’s like trying to describe a color. Is it art, craft, trash, or treasure? I don’t know, nor do I care. I know only that I am happiest when I am able to utilize my creativity to fabricate the images in my imagination. Thinking about what, why, or how I do it merely serves to take away from the time I get to spend doing it. From childhood, I have dabbled in many different mediums to express my art. In recent years I have chosen to work primarily with kiln formed glass because it offers endless possibilities of fascination and challenge.

As an observer of and a participant in the natural world, I cannot help but react with wonder, amusement, joy and curiosity to what I see and experience. These reactions compel me to paint from the heart, not with a historical or objective eye. As a result, my paintings become imagined settings, conveying feelings about a particular time and place or about the gifts of the earth. Unapologetically, I also react to places and objects through the lens of faith, a faith in a loving, actively involved creator.

Mommas rose in our garden has bloomed to a beautiful sight.

My work stems from nature and is filtered through my experiences. It has representational tendencies yet is not packed with narratives. Sometimes there is an agenda, sometimes not. That is what keeps it fresh and seductive. Primarily a painter, my passion for the two dimensional surface is often energized by explorations in woodcuts, linoleum cuts and monoprints. Landscapes and animals (birds in particular) are constant shape shifters offering endless unions of design elements - they abstract themselves! The rural setting in which I live offers me endless visual intimacies with nature.

While I have done some drawing and painting, my main interest is in Photography as Fine Art. I am drawn to floral and botanical subjects which I photograph both outdoors and in studio. I also enjoy photographing the great outdoors in the Ozarks. My favorite subjects are usually found within an easy drive, or a short walk in the local wooded hills.

Robert’s images have received multiple awards in local competitions and gallery shows.