Storytelling is art

When I was a kid I liked stories, in fact, most people grow up hearing stories about families and friends.

My Dad was a great storyteller and it wasn’t until I got older that I realized his gift for embellishment.

B Boys, 30x30, acrylic on canvas, Inquiry

B Boys, 30x30, acrylic on canvas, Inquiry

“he could spin a yarn”

To tell a good story you need to exaggerate a bit to make it interesting. I was told as a kid that lying was a bad thing but I never made the connection between exaggerating facts for a good story and lying. You see, I always saw storytelling as something that should generate excitement and entertain people — so embellishment was—what my Dad would call— a required element in the art of storytelling—and man, he could spin a yarn.

I discovered a bit of that same gift when I attended University but most of my storytelling came out during nights of partying. As I became more immersed in my art studies, a shift took place, my energy was being absorbed by the creative process and visualization. I didn’t know it at the time but the act of creating things would become my outlet for telling stories.

Grabbing the morning news, 31x47, oil on canvas, Inquiry

Grabbing the morning news, 31x47, oil on canvas, Inquiry

The viewer (you) becomes the protagonist

Today—recently in fact—I have discovered the narrative in my paintings—which has always been there but not refined. Now I see the story as the core of what I paint and the cool thing is, I don’t know what the narrative will be until each painting is complete. The act of painting takes on an intuitive flow that naturally leads me through a visual progression of images. its natural progression. When the piece is complete, I know because the piece resonates a beginning, middle and end. Unlike a written counterpart my visual representation is referenced for a tittle upon completion. I always thought the biggest transformation of a painting takes place between the drawing of the piece to its painted finale but It turns out it is the moment when the public see’s it for the first time. The viewer (you) become the protagonist and determines what significance the piece has to you. If I have done my job, multiple scenario’s and an all- inclusive journey of the imagination is generated by you, on the spot.

I always felt I should be creating art that has some relationship to the human journey while spinning my perspective and fantasies. I see potential spectacles in all walks of life and many forms and they are just stories waiting to be told.

If you have never looked through my website please take a couple minutes, maybe you will see something you like. Oh! and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter because I am offering free downloadable prints for the first 10 people that subscribe.