Wisconsin Life

My relationship to Wisconsin is kind of interesting because I consider myself a full cheesehead. I grew up in northern Illinois-- Don't hold that against me Wisconsinites. Always loved Wisconsin. I have very fond memories. And when my wife and I just got married, we lived in Chicago when I was going to art school. And we drove across the country 'cause we had an offer to get a free car from my dad. And as we drove back all the way across the country, I remember thinking, "Wisconsin is the prettiest place. This is what I want to paint." I'm a realist painter who does this very, very fussy very realistic work. I was that kid. I was the one that was always drawing. I always loved art. I had a particular art teacher who said, "You should try water color. I think you'd really like it." And I took to it right away. That same teacher, he said, "You could probably make a living at this Steve." Something like that... And I thought, "Oh, I'd like to do that." When I'm trying to decide what to paint, it's one of the hardest things. I spend a lot of time driving around shooting lots of photos. Thinking about what I might shoot next. I'm obsessive. Even when I think maybe I have enough, I never stop thinking, "Well, maybe there's something even better."

click of camera shutter

And out of the millions and millions of things I could paint I mean, literally, every day I see something and I think to myself-- I can't turn it off-- I think, "Well what would it look like if I painted that? What if I shift it? What if I was up? What if I was down? What if I waited til the light was different?" I mean I'm always thinking about that. I make the decision sometimes because I've narrowed down some parameters artificially just to give myself some reason to pick one over the other. So, for instance, right now I thought I want to do something that has deeper colors that's more like evening. And I'd really like to get something that has glowing lights and reflections-- either water or rain. When people see a painting of mine with all the little details and they think, "Did I contrive some of this? Did I add things that weren't there?" I don't. I just-- Part of that is because I'm a realist and so I want it to look real. And if you insert something into a painting that wasn't really there, it looks difficult for the proportions to be right or for the lighting to be right. I depend on a real scene that I've captured with really good photos so that nothing is out of place. Or nothing is confusing to me so that when I look at it back in the studio I see everything as it really was and I can capture it with painting. It has a feeling of space. It has a feeling of light. It has the feeling of depth. I love that when it's just a flat piece of paper. but it looks like it's three-dimensional. I just love creating that effect. I've found out that I have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. So I actually take medication for it and everything. And I know that I have a difficult time focusing. I know that it helps if I narrow down the parameters and I don't create too many distractions for myself. So I'll focus my attention on the painting and one other thing especially if it's a program or CD. Something I know that's going to go for the next hour. It'll engage my attention so that I'm just going to stay here and work because I have to, but also because I'm interested in the other thing that's holding my attention for that time. I'm mentally tired at the end of a day of painting. Not necessarily exhausted in the sense that I don't want to do this anymore, but I just realize I've been thinking all day long as I'm working. I'm constantly evaluating because I'm looking at an actual photograph and then I'm thinking about, "Is this the right value? Is this the right color? Is this the right angle? Is this the right curve?" There's all these things you learn to think of as an artist. And if you ever turn that off you're going to make mistakes. Sometimes people say, "Do you have a hard time parting with the painting?" And I understand why they say that because they imagine I spend all this time and now you have to get rid of it right away. And they don't understand if I don't sell it, I'm usually in financial trouble. Plus, it is the best compliment out of all the people who say, "Wow. That's great." Some guy says, "Yeah. That's great. And here's a check for $6,000" or whatever... That, to me, that feels really good too. I paint the painting with the hope that somebody would buy it. I can't imagine not being an artist. I really can't. I've thought of that, especially when when financially it was really difficult. And the thing that kept me going back to being an artist was not, "I love being an artist so much I don't want to give it up." It was, "Who's going to do all these paintings if I'm not doing them?" I already have all these ideas. I feel this passion about getting these paintings done. And then the end result I'm passionate about. Everything in between is a lot of work. And a lot of late nights. But when the end result is done and I see the final image and I say, "That's the thing that I decided I was going to do. I went out and I found that scene. I photographed it. I came home and I spent all this time painting it." Yeah, it feels really good. Really really good.