R. Davies Art

This young woman was a natural and a delight to paint. While I like to believe that I draw out the best of anyone, she made my time in the studio a pure joy. The young man is the little brother to the girl above, While not quite as conscious of his role in the process, he is blessed with an amazing innocence that translates well in paint. This is a portrait of my son. He is a great kid who can write, program, and draw like nobody's business. And, my daughter. She works very hard to make her way in this complicated world, and you can see the determination in her eyes. This was another fun commission. She has a stunning inner beauty that outshines even her extraordinary physical beauty. Oftentimes it is the precise manipulation of micro-expressions that tell the story. As I've stated before, capturing a likeness is not terribly hard. Capturing a soul...that is another thing.

Every now and then I sell paintings which I kind of wish would somehow magically return. They are haunting to me. The one to the right captures a specific feel of invitation, anxiety, beauty and dread. It fascinates me. The one to the left with the hydrant holds some sort of spell on me. Between the clouds portending either rejuvenating spring rains or the possibility of lashing storms and the pattern of tiny white flowers that lead the eye back and forth, in and out, I find I can stare at it for hours. All I have now is the picture. The real thing is far better. I can see the brush strokes in raking light, not to mention that the painting's color will never be as true in a photo. Sometimes it is not enough to be the painter. I want to have it in my house where I can visit at any time.

There is something about still life that is fascinating--if done right. It should have all the standard pictorial elements: composition, interesting color usage, brush technique, etc. But, what interests me most about a still life is the almost intangible story/mystery of that combination of elements. If done well, it seems that a faint quantum trace of the humanity it represents remains. We want to know more. Our eyes search the surface for meaning and find small almost abstract moments of paint scumbled or washed or scraped where a small composition within the larger presents its own mystery. It is like a novel that bears rereading and yields anew with each visit. To the left is an example of a painting that invites us to dawdle, to get lost in reflections, to wonder about relationships between objects. It is also a painting that lets me get lost in meditation as I paint. There is a certain point I reach where I am no longer painting the label--bell, brush, book, bottle-- bu