Upcoming Shows

I'm very honored to be a part of the following upcoming shows;

This is my third show with the Gresham Art Committee, and I continue to be impressed with their dedication to promoting the arts within the local community. I'm very grateful for all of the kindness and support they've extended not only me, but all of my fellow artists as well.

RAW Portland scouted me out for this show and I'm very excited to be a part of this international movement showcasing all of the arts in one exciting 21+ venue. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at http://www.rawartists.org/vanboydart

Delicate Cutters

This painting was my effort to visually represent the feeling of inspiration when it moves through the artist. The title is a reference to the knives I use in various stages of a painting and is also a hat tip to the band, Throwing Muses, as well as Jessica, a woman I once knew.

Oil on stretched linen 2013, 12x16 inches 

Until Our Eyes Are Raw

Hold nothing back, nothing in reserve, this is a one way trip...

Pastel on panel

A Pleasing Sound

Pastel on linen, 11x14inches

So Many Beginnings

"In each picture is a whole lifetime enshrined, a whole lifetime of fears, doubts, hopes, and joys."

Wassily Kandinsky

I find myself starting more paintings than I'm finishing lately. Feeling more satisfaction in letting go to the impulse to draw, to note an idea, or lose myself in inspiration's movement than the desire to paint. Of artistic pursuits Kandinsky felt that drawing was the most spiritual activity available to the artist, so it would seem I've been of the feeling to move with the spirit.

I hope you enjoy this selection of works in progress. For enquiries please email vanboydart@gmail.com. 

Untitled, pastel and some initial layers of oil on canvas about 3x4feet. This one has had me stumped so to speak as to how to proceed to the finish and really represents the painting which led me to flinging myself into drawing in an effort to reconnect with the muses if you will. Looked at from a different light though, this painting opened a door from which a flood of ideas crashed into view.

"Dissecting Panoptes" 22x33inches, silverpoint on paper with an initial wash of oil paint. My explorations of using social media to promote my art prompted this piece, one has a sense of hundreds of eyes watching your every move as well as a feeling of exposure. Reminding me of the all seeing giant, Argos Panoptes of Greek mythology.

Untitled, charcoal on paper 22x33inches. Today, while scanning some random sketches pinned to walls and boards, I experienced something akin to seeing faces in the clouds in some of the more abstract marks on the various papers. This portrait flowed from those abstract marks.

Untitled, pastel on linen 11x14inches. Like the one above this piece came out of an image a noticed in the background marks of another painting.

"We Will Be Your Guide"

Pastel on canvas, 12x12inches. I wanted to do a tribute to the artist, Chencho Zocar, whose work always uplifts me, his drawings have served as sort of a beacon when I might be going too far off the trail.

"Oubliette" pastel and charcoal 3x4feet on canvas. The second half off a diptych, this is probably the painting which has been waiting the longest to be finished. It concerns the desire to forget and/or leave things behind.

I leave you with one more quote from dear maestro Kandinsky,

"The eye is the hammer. The soul the piano with it's many chords. The artist is the hand that, by touching this or that key, sets the soul vibrating automatically. "

See, Hear, and Speak a Little

Pastel, casein, and powdered pigment triptych on panels 12x36inches(total size)

What is Inspiration

There is a sea upon which ideas float like messages in bottles, this is inspiration. We, artists, float in this space to put the messages in the empty vessels, so that someone, somewhere might read them and recognize the vast beauty of our time, our place, in this moment floating in the sea. In this recognition, there is a connection...a moment outside ourselves, when "I" becomes "We" and we enter the field where dichotomies are resolved.

"See a Little"

"Hear a Little"

First two panels of a triptych, pastel over an oil/alkyd ground on 12x12inch masonite