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Lovers

Lovers | 30 x 48 inches | oil on panel 2009 | more paintings >>

Barter is a wonderful thing. I need a door stripped and varnished. I’ll give you one painting in exchange for your expertise! The deal was struck. My door was refinished and “Lovers” was conceived and executed. Tough times call for creative enterprise.This work draws on my Blue Trees series of works from last winter. There was only one request regarding content—well, two. First, a color palette. Second, “something erotic for the bedroom.” A big challenge for me. I don’t normally get requests for specific content, or color palette for that matter. My usual response to such a request is to procrastinate. But when I put my mind to it, something good will eventually leak out. Or at least, something I like. And, if I can say so myself, I like the results. For you Trekky’s out there, Think ‘Dax’ from Deep Space Nine.

Don’t forget, artists like to eat, too. I am sending you telepathic messages as we speak… buy more oil paintings from Todd Starks! Buy more oil paintings from Todd Starks!…

Until next time (when the Robin’s return to the midwest—a sure sign of spring!), have a happy day!

why i paint

“Once something is sketched, it belongs to me and I lovingly arrange it on my painting surface where it is reborn.”

I create paintings about emotional space, shape, color and pattern. With a painterly style, I carefully build up impasto layers, using wet into wet oil paint, and allowing shards of underpainting to show through. Formally, the pieces are about composition, color harmonies, shape, and texture, yet each piece reveals a sensory connection to the landscape around me, and a dynamic interplay between conscious and subconscious thought.