So if you look around my portfolio or any of my recent artwork you’ll notice a common theme around here: everything is looking a bit dark and colorless. No, I’m not super depressed or going through a goth phase or anything, so there’s no need for concern 😉 . I’m simply trying to get back to the basics a little and changing my overall theme to match.

I want to really practice seeing subjects critically and not focusing on the colors, but more on the tones and the way light wraps around and reflects off of objects. I feel like if I spend a good chunk of time going back to the fundamental thinking of looking critically at a still-life object and really studying how light interacts with it, it will really help me to get a better understanding of painting objects in a more realistic setting.

So for the rest of 2017 I’m going to be devoting a lot of my free time to painting in grayscale and focusing on light, tones and values. It’s my hope that this will really help me to grow as an artist and ideally help me overcome some of my sticking points in my paintings. Who knows, maybe it will help me on my web design side of life as well. I maintain the belief that if I surround myself with art every day, whether it’s drawing, painting, designing, studying or simply observing, it will help me grow in my craft. Here’s to hoping I’m right!