soCurio | art is for everyone

During 1999, I made a decision to recreate myself as an artist. To ensure that I stayed on track, I set a goal of completing 800 paintings. I knew from personal experience that it was easy for me to give up because of frustration and a belief that I wasn't "good enough". In 2005 I sold a successful advertising agency that I'd started in 1979. It was a major decision to commit to my dream of becoming a successful artist. To date, I've completed close to 650 paintings and have stopped counting because I know painting will always be part of my life. Many of my paintings are inspired from drawings in my journal that begin "with my eyes closed". I close my eyes, letting the pencil move around the page making lines, swirls and circles. Then I open my eyes to find an image. I trace the image with a sharpie pen and use watercolor pencils/crayons for color. Usually a title or words will come to me during this process and I'll jot them down next to the crude sketch. The 5' x 5' painting, "Awakening", utilized seven of my journal drawings and after winning an award, is now part of the Hanes Companies Corporate Collection. I recently introduced 10 of my journal sketches, with words, as part of a collection called "Journal Messages." The viewer is always on my mind and I want to engage and hold the viewer's attention through the use of color, shapes and patterns. Quite simply . . . I want to entertain the eyes of the viewer.